Bradley Cooper and Kevin Hart Expected to Rule the Box Office This Weekend

Bradley Cooper in American Sniper and Kevin Hart in The Wedding Ringer, both opening nationwide this weekend.

Philly film stars Bradley Cooper and Kevin Hart are expected to own the box office this weekend, with the release of American Sniper and The Wedding Ringer, respectively.

After a record-breaking preview over Christmas, Deadline reports that Clint Eastwood’s American Sniper, which stars Cooper as Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, will be No. 1, on track to pull in $50 million-plus. Writers credit a number of factors for influencing the big draw:

Aside from being in the awards conversation,  American Sniper has resonated with faith-based and military crowds. One studio executive this morning believed that red state moviegoers will be particularly attracted to American Sniper given how such Middle-Eastern war-time topics are in the headlines, read the ISIS threats, particularly in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo attacks. Of course, the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday is expected to churn business.  The percent of Kids K-12 off are expected to spike from 8 percent on Friday to 95 percent on Monday, while those colleges off are expected to swell from 31 percent to 92 percent over the four-day frame per Rentrak Theatrical.

Kevin Hart comedy The Wedding Ringer, co-starring Josh Gad, should pull an easy second place, with an estimated box office of $20-$25 million. Hart’s last comedy raked in similar numbers, with a $25.6 million opening. That’s an impressive number, but down from his MLK release last year, Ride Along, which made $41.5 million.

Both films will be playing at nearly all Philly major theaters, including UA Riverview, University City Penn 6, AMC Loews Cherry Hill and more.