'The Grey' director Joe Carnahan has a death wish

The Grey topped the box office by beating out One for the Money, Underworld: Awakening, Red Tails and Man on a Ledge over the weekend of January 27-29, 2012.

Liam Neeson's late-career transformation into an action star continued as the 59-year-old actor's latest thriller, The Grey, took a bite out of the box office with $6.5 million on Friday. That places the R-rated man-versus-wolves

But The Grey is so much more than that. It's really the story of men who need a life-or-death struggle such as this to remember that life is worth living, even if death is a certainty, either by the fangs of a wolf or the extreme and ruthless cold.

Forget Tuesday's Oscar nominations announcement: Liam Neeson's action vehicle The Grey, which will likely be totally ignored when the Oscar 2013 nominations are announced, will easily top the North American box office this weekend.

The Lionsgate and Lakeshore Entertainment action-comedy starring the actress scored No. 2 spot on Friday with $4 million-plus.