American Sniper Takes Down The Competition – Biff Bam Pop’s Weekend Box Office Wrap-Up Report

Hey, when we’re wrong we’re wrong, and this weekend we were wrong big time. Of course, so was every other pundit. Here’s what went down at the box office:

We all knew that Clint Eastwood’s American Sniper was going to have a solid opening, the biggest of of his directorial career. The general consensus was that the film was going to open in the $50 million range, but with the solid reviews and Oscar nominations of the film and star Bradley Cooper, the hype turned into an amazing $90 million opening. For a non-sequel, non-blockbuster film, this is a simply unprecedented showing. As it is, American Sniper has already broken the previous January record of $41 million held by Ride Along, and is very likely on its way to a $200 million gross. Could this translate into Oscar success as well? We’ll find out in a few week.

Opening in second place was Kevin Hart’s The Wedding Ringer with $21 million, less than the comedian’s usual opening gross, but considering everyone was at American Sniper, it’s not a bad showing. Paddington opened in third place with $19 million, playing as the alternate for families. As for the rest of the top five, Taken 3 fell to fourth place with $14 million (a pretty hard 64% drop from its opening weekend), while Selma closed things out in fifth with $8 million. Meanwhile, Blackhat only managed $4 million to land in tenth place.

So, to recap, here were our predictions:

1) American Sniper – $48 million
2) Paddington – $28 million
3) The Wedding Ringer – $25 million
4) Taken 3 – $20 
5) Blackhat – $14 million

And here’s how the weekend turned out:

1) American Sniper – $90 million
2) The Wedding Ringer – $21 million
3) Paddington – $19 million
4) Taken 3 – 14 
5) Selma – $8 million

Opening next week is Mortdecai, The Boy Next Store and Strange Magic. Be sure to check back on Friday to see our predictions.