American Sniper - Top Grosser for a War Film - Clint Eastwood’s American Sniper has made another record: the biggest Super Bowl weekend gross of all time. Its estimated weekend total of $31.85 million.
Last weekend, the Oscar-nominated Sniper became the biggest war-themed film of all time, eclipsing the $216.5 million earned by Saving Private Ryan, not accounting for inflation. Now in its third weekend in nationwide release, the film’s new domestic tally is a stunning $248.9 million.
Synopsis
Growing up in Texas, Chris Kyle's father teaches him how to hunt deer and shoot a rifle. Years later, Kyle is a rodeocowboy when he sees news coverage of the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings and decides to enlist in the U.S. Navy, where he is eventually accepted for SEAL training, becoming a U.S. Navy SEAL sniper.
Kyle meets Taya Renae at a bar, they marry, and he is sent to Iraq after the September 11 attacks of 2001. His first kills are of a woman and boy who attack U.S. Marines with a grenade. Kyle is visibly upset by the experience, but earns the nickname "Legend" for his many kills. He is assigned to hunt for the al-Qaeda leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. During house-to-house searches in evacuated areas, Kyle interrogates a family and for $100,000 the father offers to lead the SEALs to "The Butcher", second-in-command to al-Zarqawi, and whose favorite torture device is a drill. The plan goes awry when The Butcher captures the father and son and they are both killed while Kyle is pinned down by a sniper using an SVD. Meanwhile, the insurgents issue a bounty on Kyle.
Kyle returns home to his wife and the birth of his son. He is distracted by memories of his war experiences, and argues with Taya over bootleg footage of U.S. Marines shot dead by enemy sniper "savages". Taya expresses her concern for them as a couple and wishes Kyle would focus on his home and family.
Kyle leaves for a second tour, promoted to Chief Petty Officer. He is involved in a shoot out with The Butcher who is located operating out of a ground floor restaurant.
Kyle returns home from his second tour to a newborn daughter, and he is increasingly distant from his family. On his third tour, a unit member is seriously injured by the Dragunov sniper and the unit is evacuated back to base. The unit decides to return to the field and continue the mission. Another SEAL is killed by gunfire, compelling Kyle with guilt and duty to undertake a fourth tour. Taya does not understand his decision, tells him she needs him, and for a moment, implies that they should stay apart.
On tour four, the SVD-using expert insurgent sniper is identified as "Mustafa", and Kyle is assigned to take him out. Mustafa has been sniping U.S. Army combat engineers building a barricade. Kyle's sniper team is placed on a rooftop inside enemy territory. Kyle spots Mustafa, takes him out with a risky long distance shot at 2100 yards (the 8th longest sniper kill ever recorded), and exposes his team position to a large number of armed insurgents. In the midst of the firefight and low on ammunition, Kyle calls Taya and tells her he is ready to come home. A sandstorm provides cover for their chaotic escape in which Kyle is injured and almost left behind.
