'American Sniper' tops box office

The Clint Eastwood and Bradley Cooper film ‘American Sniper’ not only picked up a bevy of Oscar nominations on Thursday, but it also destroyed several box office records worldwide with an estimated $99.5 million in ticket sales over the weekend. The vast majority of American Sniper’s box-office sales - $90.2 million - came from theatres in the United States.

The Kevin Hart-led Wedding Ringer took the number two spot with $21 million. This is nearly half of what Ride Along, Hart’s comedy that opened at this exact time last year, made its opening weekend, but it’s to be expected: The Wedding Ringer had to play against multiple new films with much more buzz, so the fact that it grossed a bit over $20 million and is well on its way to breaking even with its $23 million budget - is in itself a success. Taken 3 - the latest Liam Neeson adventure attempting to prevent his daughter being kidnapped – took $45.5 million over the weekend, followed by Paddington ($23.3million) and Seventh Son ($21.7million).