With an estimated $30.5 million on Friday, the Oscar-nominated, controversial film is already director Clint Eastwood’s best-ever box office debut.
Kyle Gallner and Bradley Cooper in American Sniper
Warner Bros.
American Sniper has been playing in wide release for just one day, and it's already broken a major box office record. With an estimated $30.5 million on Friday and late Thursday night at the domestic box office, the film is now the best wide-release box office opening of Clint Eastwood's 44-year directorial career — in raw dollars, and adjusting for ticket price inflation.
And at this rate, the film — based on an autobiography of same name by the late Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, who was credited as the deadliest sniper in American military history — is just starting its record-breaking box office run. When the dust settles at the end of the four-day Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend, American Sniper stands to make anywhere between $80 million to $100 million.
That is simply unheard of in January. Adjusting for inflation, the best ever MLK weekend debut is 2008's Cloverfield, with $51.9 million over four days. The best ever January debut is the Special Edition re-release of Star Wars in 1997, which opened with $63.2 million in 2015 dollars. Sniper could blast past both of those records on Saturday.
Bradley Cooper in American Sniper
Warner Bros.
Sniper has already made a significant impact playing in just four theaters since Dec. 25, where it's made $3.4 million, with astronomic per-theater weekend averages ranging from $158,000 to $169,000.
But in that time, the film has also already weathered significant controversy after it came under criticism for its depiction of Kyle — who made no effort in his book to hide his disdain for Iraqis, referring to them as "savages," nor his belief that his mandate during his service in Iraq was to "[k]ill every male you see" — as an unqualified hero. Critics of the film subsequently reported receiving death threats. On Wednesday, Cooper defended the film, telling The Daily Beast , "[T]his movie was always a character study about what the plight is for a soldier. … It doesn't go any farther than that. It's not a political discussion about war, even. It's a discussion about the reality. And the reality is that people are coming home, and we have to take care of them."
Meanwhile, on Thursday, Sniper earned six Academy Award nominations, including for Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Actor for Bradley Cooper's performance as Kyle. And it just earned a rare "A+" rating from CinemaScore, indicating that word-of-mouth will be a powerful factor in the film's box office longevity.
This story will be updated through the weekend.
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Saturday, January 17, 2015|
Mobile Bollywood
Live cricket score and ball-by-ball commentary from the 2nd One-Day International (ODI) match between India and Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), Melbourne on Sunday.
Junaid Khan fell while bowling during the Pakistan team's World Cup training camp on Thursday, but an MRI scan revealed there was no muscle tear and Khan should recover in a week.
Misbah-ul-Haq said the courage of the children would serve as a motivating factor for the team to try to win the World Cup. Terrorists stormed the Army Public School on December 16 killing at least 135 school children while scores were injured.
India coach Duncan Fletcher defended poor performances by his bowlers and blamed lack of experience as a reason why Australia's batsmen dominated them in the four-Test series Down Under.
Rahul Dravid said new rules, which mandate five fielders inside the 30-yard circle at all times in an innings, will have a huge impact on how the teams work out their strategies at the World Cup.
The Guardian said the convictions in a London court of then Pakistan captain Salman Butt, paceman Mohammad Asif and swing bowler Mohammad Aamer, were among 25 cases called into question by the methods of 'Fake Sheikh' undercover reporter Mazher Mahmood.
Former New Zealand captain Chris Cairns faces allegations of perjury in a match-fixing libel action in light of being awarded $136,000 in damages after he sued IPL founder Lalit Modi, over an accusation of match-fixing made on Twitter in January 2010.
The court's direction came while hearing Sneh Bansal's plaint , who was removed from the post of DDCA president on allegations of misappropriation and siphoning off funds, filed against some of its executive members.
Pakistan have never defeated India in the 50-over World Cup but former cricketer Inzamam-ul-Haq is keeping his fingers crossed.
South Africa beat West Indies by 61 runs according to the Duckworth/Lewis method when the tourists were bowled out for 164. South Africa made 279 for eight before their innings was cut short by rain after 48.2 overs.
Pakistan will be without Saeed Ajmal at this year's World Cup starting on February 14 after the off-spinner withdrew following his failure to completely alter his action.
Captain Misbah-ul-Haq, Shahid Afridi, Ahmed Shehzad, Yasir Shah, Mohammad Irfan, Ehsan Adil, Umar Akmal visited the school and then the hospital where the children, who were injured in the deadly attack, are under treatment.
India open their tri-series campaign against Australia on Sunday in Melbourne. More than the result, the tri-series offers the reigning champions some much-needed time to acclimatise to the conditions.
Head coach Waqar Younis feels Pakistan will not enter the World Cup as favourites and it will help the side as there will be no pressure on the players.
Richard Hadlee was optimistic about skipper Brendon McCullum continuing his recent rich vein of form but also warned the team against overburdening him with expectations, saying that others should also rise to the task.
Gary Ballance injured himself during fielding drills in Australia but is expected to be fully fit for the World Cup.
Gurinder Sandhu crowned his arrival on the first-class scene for New South Wales (NSW) in 2012-13 by playing in the Prime Minister's XI, for Australia A and by winning the Steve Waugh medal as the state's best player.
