LOS ANGELES (AP) – American Sniper hit the mark with moviegoers again.
The military drama starring Bradley Cooper as Navy SEAL marksman Chris Kyle topped the box office for a second weekend in a row with $64.4 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.
American Sniper is up for six Academy Awards, including best picture and best actor for Cooper. The total haul for the Warner Bros film now stands at $200.1 million. American Sniper” also earned an additional $17.6 million in 16 international territories, including Australia, Sweden, Norway and Denmark.
“We’ve never quite seen anything like this at this time of year,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at box-office tracker Rentrak. “American Sniper is helping to propel the box office, which is already 9.3 per cent ahead of the same time last year.”
The film, directed by Clint Eastwood, already broke box-office records when it expanded to wide release last weekend, easily surpassing Avatar to become the biggest January opening for a movie and immediately becoming the top grosser among the best-picture Oscar nominees.
In a distant second place, the saucy Universal thriller The Boy Next Door featuring Jennifer Lopez as a teacher who engages in an affair with a younger man played by Ryan Guzman, debuted with $15 million.
The weekend’s other major new releases weren’t even in the neighbourhood of The Boy Next Door.
The animated fantasy Strange Magic from Luscasfilm and Disney flopped in seventh place with $5.5 million.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theatres, according to Rentrak.
1. American Sniper, $64.4 million ($17.6 million international).
2. The Boy Next Door, $15 million ($560,000 international).
3. Paddington, $12.4 million ($4.3 million international).
4. The Wedding Ringer, $11.6 million ($1.1 million international).
5. Taken 3, $7.6 million ($26.3 million international).
6. The Imitation Game, $7.1 million ($4.6 million international).
7. Strange Magic $5.5 million.
8. Selma, $5.5 million.
9. Mortdecai, $4.1 million ($5.2 million international).
10. Into the Woods, $3.9 million ($5.1 million international).
