American Sniper has been a complete box office phenomenon, and the film has just reached another major milestone: it is now the second highest grossing R-rated film of all time.
The Clint Eastwood directed film was #2 at the box office this weekend, with the top position being filled by Spongebob, as we previously reported. But even in second place, American Sniper still made an impressive $24 million this weekend, bringing it to a stunning $282 million domestic and $361 million worldwide, according to Box Office Mojo.
In terms of R-rated openings, American Sniper is second only to Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ, also something of a phenomenon which generated a fair amount of controversy. That movie made $370 million domestically, meaning American Sniper would need to make about $90 million more to take the top spot. Given that the movie will still have a few weeks left in theaters, that definitely isn't out of the realm of possibility.
Other high grossing R-rated films include The Matrix Reloaded, The Hangover and The Hangover Part II, coming in at number three, four and five respectively.
The film, in which Bradley Cooper plays Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, is already the highest grossing war film of all time, as we previously reported. It was also nominated for six academy awards including Best Picture.
What exactly is behind American Sniper's incredible success? Well, the movie is pretty well reviewed, stars one of the most popular actors in Hollywood, has tremendous Oscar buzz, and at least some audiences are probably coming out in support of Chris Kyle's story and of the military. In that way it appeals to a massive amount of people. It also probably doesn't hurt that there has been some amount of controversy around the movie, making people more curious to check it out and see what the fuss is about.
American Sniper is now playing in theaters.
image courtesy of INFphoto.com