Liam Neeson's tops box office with $70M

"The Grey," starring Liam Neeson -- Open Road Film's second release ever -- is poised to debut as the No. 1 movie at the domestic box office this weekend.

The film is expected to easily beat this weekend's other new releases, Lionsgate's "One for the Money" and Summit's "Man on a Ledge."

It's an unusual weekend at the box office. Joe Carnahan, Ridley Scott and Tony Scott produced "The Grey," Lorenzo di Bonaventura and Mark Vahradian produced "Man on a Ledge" and Katherine Heigl and Sidney Kimmel produced "One for the Money."

"Ledge" is a thriller and "Money" is an action-comedy.

In limited release this weekend is Roadside Attractions' "Albert Nobbs," which won Glenn Close an Academy Award nomination. Other Oscar nominees expanding this weekend are "The Descendants," which will increase from 560 to 1,997 locations and "The Artist," which is going fro 662 locations to 900.

While Open Road, which launched last March, would be happy to break double-digits, less conservative box-office watchers outside Open Road believe the R-rated action drama will gross about $14.5 million.

The movie, which Carnahan directed, is tracking well, according to the research firm NRG. Sixty-three percent of those surveyed by NRG reported some awareness of the movie and 38 percent reported "definite" interest in seeing it. Of all the movies opening this weekend, more people -- 7 percent of everyone, 11 percent of men younger than 25 and 12 percent of men 25 and older -- said "The Grey" was their "first choice."

Critics generally like the film, which opens at 3,185 locations. The website Metacritic.com, which measures critical response to movies, gave it a strong Metascore of 63.

Open Road, financed by exhibitors AMC Entertainment and Regal Entertainment Group, released its first movie, "Killer Elite," in 2011.

That R-rated action thriller was a flop, grossing $53 million worldwide on a $70 million budget.