After earning a whopping $30.5 million on Friday, which was the greatest single day total ever for a film in January, “American Sniper” somehow did even better on Saturday.
Thanks to that monstrous Saturday performance–and a strong Sunday–“American Sniper” raked in approximately $90.5 million from the box office in its first weekend of wide release.
That total, which is the greatest ever for a January weekend, ranks as the 40th-greatest opening weekend (wide) of all-time.
No other film stood a chance of competing with that total. New Kevin Hart-Josh Gad comedy “The Wedding Ringer” followed distantly with $21.0 million, while “Paddington” entered the fray with $19.3 million.
“Taken 3,” last week’s leader, slipped to #4 on the strength of $14.1 million in receipts. “Selma” closed out the top five with $8.3 million.
One would have to skip four films to find new release “Blackhat,” which registered at #10. It earned a paltry $4.0 million this weekend.