The weekend box office of 16-18 January 2015 was dominated by the Oscar nominated American Sniper, which did not only accomplish a first position in its release weekend, but also managed to break box office records. The Clint Eastwood director drama became the best opener of January with an approximate $90.2 million gross. The movie thus visibly surpassed the previous January record gained by Ride Along in 2014 with the modest total of e $41.52 million.
American Sniper gathered record sums not only in comparison to its predecessors, but also in comparison to its weekend box office freshly released contenders. In comparison to the other two 16 January released movies, American Sniper managed to gather more than the double weekend gross of The Weeding Ringer and Paddington together. In the day of its release, American Sniper gathered $30,500,000, whereas on Sunday the sum was increased to a total of $34,705,000. Although Sunday met with a downfall, the record-setter managed to gather great sums in comparison to its followers: $25,000,000.
The weekend box office welcomed another two newly released movies, but their entrance was almost unnoticed in charts due to the Clint Eastwood directed lead. The Wedding Ringer, a Kevin Hart and Josh Gad starring comedy, placed second in charts with a total of $21,000,000 gross. Its voyage through the box office was tracked by box office mojo, which shared the following figures: Friday – $7,010,000, slight Saturday increase with $8,435,000 and a Sunday of $5,555,000 gross.
Although the weekend box office meant an obvious lead of American Sniper, second and third place underwent a tight struggle for the upper position. Their battle is numerically evident and the conclusions are interesting to draw, considering that both new entries were comedy movies. Third position was taken by this time animated comedy Paddington. The family film follows the adventures of a Peruvian bear, which travels to London in order to find a home. The animated comedy gathered $19,287,000 gross.
Top 5 titles of the weekend box office (16-18 January 2015):
1. American Sniper – $90,205,000
2. The Wedding Ringer – $21,000,000
3. Paddington – $19,287,000
4. Taken 3 – $14,050,000
5. Selma – $8,300,000