In its second tour of weekend duty, American Sniper showed its superior grossing power, collecting an estimated $64.4 million to coast to its second straight Box Office win. If you took the grosses for the weekend’s three new releases and combined them, they still didn’t even add up to half of Sniper’s earnings.
Not only is Sniper the biggest money-maker in this year’s crop of Academy Award Best Picture nominees (The Imitation Game is a very distant second), it’s become a bona fide blockbuster. Sniper has already made nearly $200.7 million in just two weekends of wide release, which puts it on pace to be one of the most lucrative R-rated movies in history, and Box Office Mojo says that it’s on target to become 2014’s biggest money maker (sneaking in on a technicality, since it was released in a few theaters Christmas weekend). Watch your back, Katniss.
The Boy Next Door was the only newcomer in the same area code as Sniper. Jennifer Lopez’ schlocky thriller banked $15 million to finish second. Sure, that doesn’t sound too impressive when you stack it next to Sniper’s haul. But since the flick looks like it took about twenty bucks to make the thing—maybe a little more with catering costs thrown in—I’m thinking it’ll probably turn a profit.
It was the only new movie to crack the Top Five, believe it or not. The worthy family romp Paddington finished third with $12.4 million, followed by The Wedding Ringer ($11.6 million) and Taken 3 ($7.6 million). The Imitation Game snuck into sixth place with an enigmatic $7.1 mil.
Strange Magic, the misbegotten cartoon from the mind of George Lucas, proved a little too strange for most moviegoers, who steered clear of its animated alchemy. It earned $5.5 million, finishing in a dead heat with Selma for seventh place. Mortdecai, despite being fronted by A-lister Johnny Depp and his Snidely Whiplash facial hair, performed even worse, barely mustaching—er, mustering $4.1 million.
Final figures update: 1. American Sniper, $64.6 million; 2. The Boy Next Door, $14.9 million; 3. Paddington, $12.3 million; 4. The Wedding Ringer, $11.3 million; 5. Taken 3, $7.4 million.
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