We officially have our final highest grossing movie of 2014, and it's no longer The Hunger Games.
According to Variety, American Sniper has become the highest grossing domestic release of 2014. This weekend the film hit $337.2 million, just barely edging out past The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 which grossed $336.8 million.
This is yet another major milestone for the film, as last month it became the second highest grossing R-rated movie of all time, as we previously reported. That put it behind only The Passion of the Christ at $370 million. Sniper probably won't be able to gross another $33 million to become the #1 R-rated film, but the movie has still been an absolutely stunning achievement.
The fact that American Sniper beat The Hunger Games really is pretty shocking. The Hunger Games is a PG-13 film based on an extremely popular young adult series that really appeals to all audiences, while American Sniper is an R-rated, graphic war film. Sniper's budget was also significantly smaller than Hunger Games's. The movie really has become one of the biggest surprise successes in recent movie history.
American Sniper stars Bradley Cooper as Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, the most lethal sniper in U.S. military history. It was nominated for six Academy Awards but took home only the award for best sound editing. Given the unbelievable success of Sniper, it seems general audiences aren't quite in line with the Academy on this one.
image courtesy of INFphoto.com