Clint Eastwood’s American Sniper was expected to do well at the box office this weekend, but this completely caught Hollywood off guard. The Bradley Cooper-starring Best Picture nominee demolished the January weekend record, playing more like a summer blockbuster than an Oscar hopeful.
Sniper was expected to gross as much as $50 million, but data from Rentrak shows that it earned much more. The film finished the three-day weekend with $90.2 million and is looking to hit $100 million by the end of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.
The film already made over $3.4 million in three weeks of limited release at just four theaters. Now, it has easily become the top-grossing 2014 Best Picture nominee.
It is also Clint Eastwood’s personal best opening as a director. Sniper smashed the previous record for a wide January opening, beating last year’s Ride Along, which made just $41.5 million in its first weekend.
As Box Office Mojo notes, the film is built for a long, successful run, especially since audiences gave it an A CinemaScore.
Sniper was nominated for six Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Actor for Cooper.
The No. 2 movie of the weekend was Kevin Hart’s The Wedding Ringer, which grossed $21 million. The Weinstein Company’s Paddington had a surprisingly strong start with $19.3 million.
Liam Neeson’s Taken 3 added $14 million in its second weekend, bringing its domestic total to $62.8 million. Selma stumbled, despite its Best Picture nomination and the MLK holiday. It only grossed $8.3 million, bringing its total to $25.9 million.
The Imitation Game held on well after its Oscar nominations, earning $7.2 million. The Benedict Cumberbatch-starring biopic is up to $50.8 million.
The rest of the Top 10 included Into The Woods ($6.5 million); The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies ($4.8 million); Unbroken ($4.2 million); and Blackhat ($4 million).
image courtesy of INFphoto.com