Bradley Cooper in American Sniper. — Director Clint Eastwood’s biggest debut ever … American Sniper, starring Bradley Cooper. Photograph: Warner Bros/AP

American Sniper dispatches sceptics at UK box office

This article is more than 9 years old

British audiences flock to Clint Eastwood’s patriotic Iraq war drama, as best actor Oscar buzz intensifies around Bradley Cooper

The winner

When American Sniper, Wild, Whiplash and Testament of Youth were all slated to open on 16 January, it was by no means obvious that the first of these titles would debut with a sum nearly five times the amount of any of the other three. Director Clint Eastwood and star Bradley Cooper are strong marketable elements, but films about the Iraq war have tended to struggle with audiences, and the patriotically American flavour of the film might not have played so well in the UK. Any such scepticism has been banished by the result: £2.53m from 410 cinemas, yielding a site average of £6,172.

The obvious comparison for American Sniper is Lone Survivor, starring Mark Wahlberg; it, too, celebrates an American combatant, albeit in the Afghan war. Lone Survivor debuted a year ago with £752,000 from 392 cinemas – less than a third of the American Sniper number.

American Sniper – watch the trailer Guardian

American Sniper is director Eastwood’s biggest debut by a significant margin. His previous best, Changeling, began with £1.23m in November 2008. Gran Torino is Eastwood’s highest-grossing film in the UK to date, with £8.33m. Best picture Oscar winner Million Dollar Baby got to £5.43m in 2005. Unforgiven did £5.77m. American Sniper looks likely to exceed all those titles. The film earned six Oscar nominations, including best picture, and buzz is now rising on Cooper (initially considered a rank outsider to favourites Michael Keaton and Eddie Redmayne) for best actor.

In the US, American Sniper debuted with a stunning $89.5m for the opening weekend (and $105.3m, including Martin Luther King holiday Monday, 19 January). By rule of thumb, an equivalent UK opening would be around £9m, but that was never on the cards. The film, about prolific Navy Seal sniper Chris Kyle, has much stronger appeal in the US than any foreign territory. Having said that, the film has already grossed a stunning $15m in Italy.

The awards movie pile-up

With seven Oscar-nominated films all playing on at least 200 screens, the battle for audiences has become intense. Cinema programmers already playing The Theory of Everything, Birdman, Into the Woods and Foxcatcher faced the challenge of accommodating American Sniper, Whiplash and Wild – plus an eighth title, Testament of Youth, which isn’t blessed with nominations but is competing for the same audience. Between them, these titles have earned 35 Oscar nominations.

Whiplash’s JK Simmons and Damien Chazelle: ‘The idea of the self-destructive artist is seductive’ Guardian

Among newcomers, Whiplash debuted with a decent £574,000 from 249 cinemas, including previews of £38,000. In the US, distributor Sony Pictures Classics has presented the film as a more niche offering, grossing $6.7m after 15 weeks of play. In the UK, Sony has been more aggressive, playing the film in a broad mix of arthouse and multiplex sites. The film has performed best in London indie venues, with seven of the 10 best-performing sites being at Curzons, Everymans and Picturehouses in the capital.

Wild, starring Reese Witherspoon, hasn’t been booked so aggressively by indie venues, but has still achieved full national coverage in 293 cinemas. Thanks to strong previews of £111,000, the film has landed a place in the top 10 chart, with a total so far of £525,000. Not counting the previews, the screen average is a soft £1,411. That compares with a weekend average of £1,819 for Birdman, £2,151 for Whiplash (excluding previews from the calculation) and £4,207 for The Theory of Everything.

Wild star Reese Witherspoon: ‘This was one of the most important experiences of my life’ Guardian

The period drama

Since the film failed to win any Oscar or Bafta nominations, you might imagine that Testament of Youth was doomed to fail during this highly competitive time for prestige dramas, but that’s not the case. Distributor Lionsgate proved with The Railway Man that nominations are by no means essential for a film skewed towards an older, literary audience. That film debuted with £1.23m in January 2014, on its way to a lifetime of £5.33m.

Kit Harington and Alicia Vikander in Testament of Youth Guardian

Having said that, Testament of Youth has not performed at the same level, and, given the disparity in star power, it’s perhaps unreasonable to think that it might have done so. The Railway Man starred Colin Firth and Nicole Kidman. Testament of Youth offers Alicia Vikander and Kit Harington. The film has debuted with £417,000 from 233 cinemas, including £60,000 in previews.

The Theory of Everything star Eddie Redmayne: ‘There’s a maths teacher out there laughing at me playing Stephen Hawking’ Guardian

Arriving two weeks after The Theory of Everything, Testament of Youth might consider itself unlucky to be facing such strong competition from the Stephen Hawking biopic. Theory has posted successive declines of just 16% and 6%, and delivered stellar third-weekend takings of £2.33m, for an 18-day cume of £11.94m. The film looks likely to stay solid through the Bafta ceremony (8 February) and right up to Oscar night (22 February), which is a headache for Testament, since they are targeting similar audiences. Also in the mix is The Imitation Game. The Alan Turing biopic is simply refusing to go away, adding another £211,000 at the weekend, for a total to date of £15.19m.

The box-office champs

Hanging in at number six in the chart, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies finally cracked £40m at the weekend, the only 2014 release to have done so. One place above it at the weekend, Paddington has now passed £34m, overtaking The Inbetweeners 2 (£33.39m) to become the third-highest-grossing release of last year. It will soon overtake The Lego Movie (£34.34m) to become the second-highest-grossing among 2014 releases. This is a result that few would have predicted when the film was beset by unhelpful press coverage last year over the switch in voice actor and the film’s PG rating.

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies – video review Guardian

The big faller

Most of the awards contenders are enjoying relatively modest falls, with The Theory of Everything down 6%, Into the Woods dipping 19%, and Birdman declining 33% from the previous session. But Foxcatcher fell an alarming 57%, seemingly unsustained by those five Oscar nominations including for director Bennett Miller and actors Steve Carell and Mark Ruffalo. One theory is that this dark drama is more a film for the arthouse audience, but those venues, which also have Birdman, Whiplash, The Theory of Everything and Testament of Youth, may struggle to keep Foxcatcher on at all showtimes. Multiplexes can pick up the slack –in fact, the film expanded from 333 venues to 377 at the weekend – but this isn’t necessarily where the more appreciative audience for the film will be found. In the US, as with Whiplash, Sony Pictures Classics have opted for a more niche positioning.

Foxcatcher – video review Guardian

The future

Overall, the market was 18% down on the previous frame, and a slim 2% down on the equivalent session from 2014, when The Wolf of Wall Street knocked 12 Years a Slave off the top of the chart. The weekend was the 12th-highest-grossing of the past year. The release calendar now switches away temporarily from Oscar-nominated films, with this weekend instead offering Johnny Depp spy comedy Mortdecai and Mark Wahlberg in The Gambler. The Beach author and 28 Days Later screenwriter Alex Garland makes his debut with sci-fi Ex Machina. There’s also JC Chandor’s A Most Violent Year, starring Oscar Isaac, Jessica Chastain and David Oyelowo, which deserved Oscar nominations but failed to secure them. Whether or not the film can nevertheless win the battle for audiences – buoyed, you’d imagine, by positive reviews – remains to be seen.