Weekend Box-Office: ‘American Sniper’ Explodes In Wide Release With An Astounding $90 Million Opening

Well, apparently the Red State audiences of the movie world are far more undernourished than many of us thought. Universal’s “Lone Survivor” was a jingoistic military drama that performed well in 2013, but its numbers now pale in comparison to the unbelievable opening weekend wide-release debut for Clint Eastwood’s “American Sniper.” When was the last time a movie spent two weeks in limited release and then opened in wide release on its third weekend to a massive $90 million? It feels totally unprecedented. Then again, the writing was on the wall. Warner Bros.’ military drama smashed major records in its two weekends of limited release (it now holds the record for the 2nd highest limited release per screen average ever) and on Friday, the movie grossed an amazing $30 million alone. So Eastwood’s $90.2 million opening weekend is now the 40th highest opening weekend debut ever, which doesn’t sounds that groundbreaking, but it’s the highest grossing debut for a drama of all time. To...