This piece will be dealing solely with American Sniper and its stunning $30.5 million opening day, with the rest of the Friday box office news to be found here.
Going into yesterday, the biggest opening weekend for a movie Clint Eastwood directed and/or starred in is Gran Torino, which opened in wide release in January 2009 with $29.5 million. The biggest January debut weekend was Ride Along, which earned $41m over the Fri-Sun frame of its $48m Fri-Mon MLK weekend last year. The biggest opening day in January was Cloverfield‘s $17.16m Friday as part of its (at the time) record-breaking $40m debut frame in 2008. The biggest single day was Avatar‘s $25.8m on January 2nd during its third weekend of release back in 2010.
The biggest R-rated openings of all-time are Hannibal ($58m), 300 ($70m), The Passion of the Christ ($83m Fri-Sun during its $125m Wed-Sun bow) The Hangover part II ($85m Fri-Sun during its $135m Thurs-Mon bow), and The Matrix Reloaded ($91m Fri-Sun during its $134m Thurs-Sun bow). Unless I’m forgetting one, the biggest non-comic book, non-fantasy/sci-fi action movie debuts are Fast & Furious 6 ($97.3m), Skyfall ($88.3m), Fast Five ($86.1m), Fast & Furious ($70.9m), Quantum of Solace ($67m), The Bourne Ultimatum ($69m), and Mission: Impossible II ($57.8m). If you want to include Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and its $100m Fri-Sun portion of its $150m Thurs-Mon debut, knock yourself out.
If American Sniper keeps on pace through Monday, it’ll make $75-80 million over the four-day holiday weekend. As The Hollywood Reporter notes, that would make the movie about the life of Navy SEAL Chris Kyle the largest January opening of all time, easily beating the previous record holder, Kevin Hart’s Ride Along, which opened at $41.5 million on the same weekend a year ago.
Sniper‘s profile has risen significantly this week following the announcement of this year’s Academy Award nominees. The film is in the running for six Oscars, including Best Picture. However, the film, directed by Clint Eastwood, remains contentious among critics—see Chris Nashawaty’s take in his EW review.
The biggest R-rated openings of all-time are Hannibal ($58m), 300 ($70m), The Passion of the Christ ($83m Fri-Sun during its $125m Wed-Sun bow) The Hangover part II ($85m Fri-Sun during its $135m Thurs-Mon bow), and The Matrix Reloaded ($91m Fri-Sun during its $134m Thurs-Sun bow). Unless I’m forgetting one, the biggest non-comic book, non-fantasy/sci-fi action movie debuts are Fast & Furious 6 ($97.3m), Skyfall ($88.3m), Fast Five ($86.1m), Fast & Furious ($70.9m), Quantum of Solace ($67m), The Bourne Ultimatum ($69m), and Mission: Impossible II ($57.8m). If you want to include Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and its $100m Fri-Sun portion of its $150m Thurs-Mon debut, knock yourself out.
If American Sniper keeps on pace through Monday, it’ll make $75-80 million over the four-day holiday weekend. As The Hollywood Reporter notes, that would make the movie about the life of Navy SEAL Chris Kyle the largest January opening of all time, easily beating the previous record holder, Kevin Hart’s Ride Along, which opened at $41.5 million on the same weekend a year ago.
Sniper‘s profile has risen significantly this week following the announcement of this year’s Academy Award nominees. The film is in the running for six Oscars, including Best Picture. However, the film, directed by Clint Eastwood, remains contentious among critics—see Chris Nashawaty’s take in his EW review.
