‘American Sniper’ hits $107m

The record wide-release opening of American Sniper was even bigger than estimated. Clint Eastwood’s war drama took in $107 million (Dh393 million) over the four-day Martin Luther King Jr holiday weekend.

The result is the biggest January weekend ever and easily the top debut for Eastwood. The film had played in very limited release two weeks before exploding nationwide.

American Sniper was trailed by two new releases: the animated adaptation Paddington ($25.5 million over four days) and the Kevin Hart comedy The Wedding Ringer ($24 million). Michael Mann’s cyber-thriller Blackhat flopped with $4.5 million.