"Madea Goes To Jail" opened at the top of the box office in the United States and Canada this weekend with 41.1 million U.S. dollars, as thriller "Taken" was in distant second place, showed preliminary figures released Sunday.

The latest Tyler Perry movie had the fifth-best February opening ever, while the Liam Neeson film "Taken" rebounded from third place last week to take the No. 2 slot, with 11.4 million dollars over the three-day period, according to Los Angels-based box office tracking firm Media by Numbers.

"Taken," which was released four weeks ago, has grossed over 95 million dollars collectively in North America.

The animated 3-D film "Coraline" was in third-place, up from last week's fourth place with 11 million dollars, while "He's Just Not That Into You," the romantic comedy with the all-star cast, pulled in 8.5 million dollars for fourth place.

"Slumdog Millionaire," which is expected to sweep Oscars at Sunday night's Academy Awards ceremony, came in fifth place and tallied 8 million dollars in ticket sales. The film's total rose to 98 million dollars over the past three months.

(Xinhua New Agency February 23, 2009)