The most recent box office projections have put forward the possibility that ‘American Sniper’ will overtake ‘The Hunger Games: Mockingjay- Part 1’ as 2014’s biggest film based on the total number of releases.
According to Boxoffice.com, the Iraqi war drama is set to be the highest grossing movie in the United States that was released in 2014.
Directed by Clint Eastwood, ‘American Sniper’ is already deemed as the highest grossing war movie in the U.S. as it went over the $216.3M overhaul of previous box office champ ‘Saving Private Ryan’ from 1998.
Currently with $281.4M since its release last Christmas, the award-winning war film still needs to go over the $335.7M mark that ‘Mockingjay-Part 1’ has set following its own release last November 21.
Nonetheless, ‘American Sniper’ has reportedly been projected to conclude with roughly $360M. Meanwhile, ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ is still reigning supreme as the top-earning film within the calendar year of 2014, raking in a domestic gross of $333.1M.
“We’ll take it one week at a time,” Dan Fellman, head of domestic distribution at Warner Bros., said in an interview with Variety. “But it [American Sniper] is certainly moving in that direction.”
Starring Bradley Cooper, the award-winning movie is centered on the story of navy Seal Chris Kyle, who is recognized as the most competent sniper in U.S. history but was shot dead in 2013.
Achieving considerable success immediately after its release, the movie has brought certain issues to light, including American’s attitudes towards the Islam religion and the subject of war, in general.
The state of Texas recently celebrated ‘Chris Kyle Day’ and jury selection has begun for the trial of Eddie Ray Routh, the Marine veteran accused of killing Kyle by gunning him down in 2013.
While ‘American Sniper’ is moving towards becoming 2014’s highest-grossing film, it now slides down to second spot in the box office as ‘The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water’ made a huge splash last weekend.
Directed by Paul Tibbitt, the live-action adventure comedy film is a stand-alone sequel to ‘The SpongeBob Square Pants Movie’ released in 2004. It features the regular TV cast (Tom Kenny, Bill Fagerbakke, Rodger Bumpass, Clancy Brown, Carolyn Lawrence, and Mr. Lawrence), who all reprised their popular roles from the Nickelodeon series and the first film. Antonio Banderas also portrayed a new character, Burger-Beard the Pirate.
Paramount Pictures’ take on the Nickelodeon hit has pulled in $56 million in North America alone, making it a successful debut for the animated film as it unseated ‘American Sniper’ from its three-week reign.
