'American Sniper' Earns 'Stunning' $64 Million in 2nd Weekend; Tops $200M

From Ray Subers at BoxOfficeMojo.com:

Coming off a very surprising opening, "American Sniper" reinforced its status as a box office heavyweight by scoring one of the biggest second weekends ever.

With over $200 million in the bank already, "Sniper" is now on track to be the highest-grossing movie from 2014 (it opened in New York and Los Angeles on Christmas Day).

Among the new releases, Jennifer Lopez's "The Boy Next Door" got off to a decent start, while "Mortdecai" and "Strange Magic" were dead on arrival.

Expanding to 3,705 locations — the widest release ever for an R-rated movie — "American Sniper" added an estimated $64 million this weekend. That ranks eighth all-time among second weekends, ahead of movies like "The Dark Knight Rises," "The Hunger Games" and "The Passion of the Christ."

That $64 million tally is off just 28 percent from the movie's opening frame, which is the best second weekend hold ever for a movie that opened above $80 million.

With fantastic word-of-mouth and a few more weeks of light competition, "American Sniper" should continue to hold well in the coming weeks. It will likely close north of $350 million — good enough for the top movie of 2014 — and it even has an outside chance at reaching $400 million.