‘American Sniper’ holds top spot at weekend box office over ‘Boy Next Door,’ ‘Mortdecai’

LOS ANGELES, Calif. – “American Sniper” hit the mark with moviegoers again.

The military drama starring Bradley Cooper as Navy SEAL marksman Chris Kyle topped the box office for a second weekend in a row with $64.4 million in first place, according to studio estimates Sunday.

“American Sniper” is up for six Academy Awards, including best picture and best actor for Cooper. The total haul for the Warner Bros. film now stands at $200.1 million.

“We’ve never quite seen anything like this at this time of year,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at box-office tracker Rentrak. “‘American Sniper’ is helping to propel the box office, which is already 9.3 per cent ahead of the same time last year.”

The film, directed by Clint Eastwood, already broke box-office records when it expanded to wide release last weekend, easily surpassing “Avatar” to become the biggest January opening for a movie and immediately becoming the top grosser among best-picture Oscar nominees.

In a distant second place, the saucy Universal thriller “The Boy Next Door” featuring Jennifer Lopez as a teacher who engages in an affair with a younger man played by Ryan Guzman, debuted with $15 million.

The weekend’s other major new releases weren’t even in the neighbourhood of “The Boy Next Door.”

The animated fantasy “Strange Magic” from Luscasfilm and Disney flopped in seventh place with $5.5 million.

Lionsgate’s Johnny Depp dud “Mortdecai” tanked in ninth place with $4.1 million. The eccentric heist comedy, which also stars Gwyneth Paltrow, marks another box-office bomb for Depp, following the leading man’s disappointing “Transcendence,” ”The Lone Ranger,” ”Dark Shadows” and “The Rum Diary.”

“I think he chooses projects that appeal to him,” Dergarabedian said. “I’ve always appreciated Johnny Depp for marching to the beat of his own drum, but he still needs to get audiences in the door. Sometimes, if you go too far afield, that’s reflected in the numbers.”

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Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theatres, according to Rentrak. Where available, the latest international numbers are also included. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.

1. “American Sniper,” $64.4 million.

2. “The Boy Next Door,” $15 million.

3. “Paddington,” $12.4 million.

4. “The Wedding Ringer,” $11.6 million.

5. “Taken 3,” $7.6 million.

6. “The Imitation Game,” $7.1 million.

7. “Strange Magic” $5.5 million.

8. “Selma,” $5.5 million.

9. “Mortdecai,” $4.1 million.

10. “Into the Woods,” $3.9 million.

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Universal and Focus are owned by NBC Universal, a unit of Comcast Corp.; Sony, Columbia, Sony Screen Gems and Sony Pictures Classics are units of Sony Corp.; Paramount is owned by Viacom Inc.; Disney, Pixar and Marvel are owned by The Walt Disney Co.; Miramax is owned by Filmyard Holdings LLC; 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight are owned by 21st Century Fox; Warner Bros. and New Line are units of Time Warner Inc.; MGM is owned by a group of former creditors including Highland Capital, Anchorage Advisors and Carl Icahn; Lionsgate is owned by Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.; IFC is owned by AMC Networks Inc.; Rogue is owned by Relativity Media LLC.

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Follow AP Entertainment Writer Derrik J. Lang on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/derrikjlang.