American Sniper Rules the Box Office for a Third Weekend

It was a fairly unsurprising weekend at movie theaters, as the biggest hit of the winter so far continued to its winning ways, while new releases failed to make an impact. Here’s what went down:

American Sniper held on to the top spot at the box office for the third weekend in a row, bringing in $30 million. The film has raised its total North American gross to an incredible $247 million. Give it a few more weeks and American Sniper should gross the magical $300 million number, typically reserved for big summer blockbusters.

As for the rest of the top five, the results were far from impressive. New sci-fi film Project Almanac had an anemic debut in second place, grossing just $8.2 million. Paddington was right behind it in third place with $8.0 million; don’t be surprised to see the two of them flip spots when the final numbers come out on Monday. Another new release, Black or White, starring Kevin Costner debut in fourth place with $6.1 million, while J-Lo’s The Boy Next Door closed things out in fifth place with $6.0 million. Overall, it’s clear that every movie not starring Bradley Cooper coudn’t really compete.

So, to recap, here were our predictions:

1) American Sniper – $43 million
2) Project Almanac – $14 million
3) The Boy Next Door – $9 million
4) Paddington – $8.5 million
5) The Wedding Ringer – $7.5 million

And here’s how the weekend turned out:

1) American Sniper – $30 million
2) Project Almanac – $8.2 million
3) Paddington  – $8.0 million
4) Black or White – $6.1 million
5) The Boy Next Door – $6.0 million

Next weekend see the release of Jupiter Ascending, The Spongebob Movie and Seventh Son. Be sure to check back on Friday to see our predicitons.