14 DAY TRIAL // Clint Eastwood’s “American Sniper” was made on a budget of almost $60 million (€55.3 million) and wasn’t even supposed to come out last year, but it just became the highest-grossing domestic release of the year 2014, Variety reports.
In doing so, it topped the previous record holder, “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1.” “American Sniper” made $337.2 million (€310.9 million) at the domestic box office and about $140 million (€129 million) more in foreign countries.
The latter figure doesn’t seem like much, but it’s actually pretty impressive considering this is a patriotic movie about the war in Iraq, hence tackling a topic that doesn’t really rank high with people outside the US.
In more ways than one, “American Sniper” was a gamble, but it proved one worth taking: it isn’t just the biggest US release of 2014 (and an R-rated one, while we’re at it), but also Clint Eastwood’s biggest release so far, and Bradley Cooper’s highest-selling drama.
The film, based on the life of former Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, the deadliest sniper in US history, also earned solid reviews from the critics, and got both Eastwood and Cooper nominations in all the major awards shows, the Oscars included.
They didn’t win, but as they say, everything starts with a first step: and they took it by getting nominated.