Having reached the $337 million total this past weekend, “American Sniper” has officially passed “Guardians of the Galaxy” and “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1” to become the highest-grossing movie of 2014 at the U.S. box office. “Sniper” also becomes the first ever Christmas Day release to win a box office year. Interestingly, the Clint Eastwood war drama starring Bradley Cooper opened in only four theaters on Dec. 25, and actually made just $1.3 million in 2014, meaning nearly all it’s impressive total has come during the film’s 2015 nationwide expansion (which began on Jan. 16). Credit an aggressive and dead-on marketing campaign, incredible word-of-mouth, and six Oscar nominations, including Best Actor and Best Picture.
“Sniper” is the first #1 Movie of the Year to win an Oscar since “Toy Story 3” in 2010. It’s also the third Warner Bros. movie in seven years to be crowned Box Office Champ. The other two were “The Dark Knight” (2008) and “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2” (2011). Those films were legitimate action movies, but “American Sniper” really isn’t. The film does includes some intense action scenes, but at it’s core, “Sniper” is a relationship and psychological war drama, from a master director who called all the right shots, and with a four-time Oscar nominee with the performance of his career.
The one sour note is that “Sniper”‘s box office total (which could increase to $350M by the end of its theatrical run) will be the lowest total of a #1 film since “Spider-Man 3” in 2007, and second-lowest in the last 13 years. Still, when you consider that NO ONE predicted the film’s amazing success, and the fact that the movie is extraordinary, Eastwood, Cooper and all those involved should be very proud. “Amercian Sniper” has earned and deserves every dollar it’s made.