American Sniper hit wide release in the US on 16 January 2015, thus gaining a number one position in the box office with $30.5 million gross. The record sum gathered by the drama also brought the picture promising predictions for the weekend box office of 16-18 January 2015, when it is likely to dethrone last week’s leader Taken 3. The Liam Neeson starring thrilling sequel was not only replaced by American Sniper as leader of box office, but Taken 3 was propelled outside of the first three positions of the Friday box office.
The Clint Eastwood directed biography-drama American Sniper is awarded not only with a leading position in the box office, but also with no less than six Oscar nominations, including one for Best Picture. It is likely that the great number of nominations was that the one which brought American Sniper a great boost in charts, but positive critics’ buzz proves that Clint Eastwood’s drama meant more than mere nominations. Thursday is a great example-settler in that regard, when American Sniper grossed $52,056. That is nothing in comparison with the Thursday number one Taken 3 with $1,744,100 gross, you might say. Before drawing any conclusions, you must bear in mind that last weekend’s box office ruler was aired in 3,594 theaters, whereas American Sniper reached a limited number of only 4 theaters.
16 January, nonetheless, brought American Sniper to the wide public which was released in 3,555 theaters (still a smaller number of cinemas in comparison with Taken 3 in the previous day), but sums gained were tremendous and record-like: $30,500,000. With this huge gross in one single day, American Sniper is most likely to surpass the total of Taken 3 in an entire weekend – $40.4 million with no effort.
The following positions of the Friday box office were taken by other two 16 January released-movies. Number two in charts was Jeremy Garelick’s The Weeding Ringer and number three was Paul King’s animated picture Paddington, with both newly released pictures cashing less than Clint Eastwood’s drama alone: $7 million for The Wedding Ringer and $4.6 million for Paddington.