American Sniper On Track to Become Highest-Grossing Film of 2014
Only two months after its Christmas Day release, American Sniper, starring Jenkintown’s Bradley Cooper, is on track to become the highest-grossing film of 2014, overtaking the current No. 1 placeholder, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1. Deadline reports that Sniper, whose box office stands at $322.59 million to date, should surpass Mockingjay’s current $336.45 million standing by the second week of March. More:
Heading into its 10th weekend, American Sniper is still wide at 2,914 theaters; compare that to The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies, which is entering its 11th frame at 304 venues with a running stateside cume of $254M. Last Sunday, American Sniper won an Oscar for Best Sound Editing, one of its six nominations that included Best Picture and Actor (Bradley Cooper). The film generated $10M last weekend.
On January 21, Mockingjay surpassed Marvel’s Guardians Of The Galaxy ($333.18M), an August release, as the highest-grossing film of 2014. While American Sniper actually has made 99.5% of its U.S./Canada tickets sales this year, in the B.O. annals it’s credited as a 2014 release, even though it launched in four theaters in New York and Los Angeles. The Clint Eastwood-directed film crossed the $300M threshold on February 15.
Another fun factoid: Sniper has beaten seven of the Harry Potter franchises, trailing only the series finale, Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows – Part 2, at $381 million.
(h/t Deadline)