Box Office: ‘American Sniper’ Hits Stunning $200M; Johnny Depp Fizzles

Clint Eastwood‘s American Sniper remained a phenomenon in its second weekend, earning a stunning $64.4 million and quickly becoming the No. 2 war film of all time at the North American box office, not accounting for inflation. Its domestic total through Monday is $200.1 miillion.

In only 10 days in release, American Sniper has eclipsed the $198.5 million earned all in by Michael Bay‘s Pearl Harbor, and it will soon overtake the $216.5 million grossed by Steven Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan in 1998. Taking inflation into account, Private Ryan would earned more than $300 million by today’s terms; Sniper is sure to eclipse that number when all is said and done.

American Sniper fell just 28 percent in its second weekend the best hold ever for a movie opening to more than $85 million. The film’s ongoing strength underscores its appeal in Middle America and the boost it’s getting elsewhere from scoring six Oscar nominations, including best picture and best actor (Bradley Cooper). Sniper looks to fall less than 30 percent from its opening weekend.

At the other end of the spectrum, Johnny Depp‘s newest film, Mortdecai, tanked in its domestic launch, earning an estimated $4.1 million, the actor’s worst opening in the post-Pirates era. Moreover, it’s his third big-budget dud after Transcendence and The Lone Ranger (he does have a small role in box-office win Into the Woods, now in theaters), and is his lowest nationwide launch since The Astronaut’s Wife ($4 million) 15 years ago.

Lionsgate and OddLot Entertainment had high hopes for the movie, directed by David Koepp and starring Depp as a debonair art dealer and part-time rogue who races to recover a stolen painting rumored to contain the code to a lost bank account filled with Nazi gold. GwynethPaltrow, Ewan McGregor, Olivia Munn, Jeff Goldblum and Paul Bettany also star in the film adaptation of Kyril Bonfiglioli‘s novel Don’t Point That Thing at Me.

Depp’s film lost handily to an unlikely competitor Jennifer Lopez, whose The Boy Next Door, a psychological thriller starring Jennifer Lopez and Ryan Guzman. The Boy Next Door did solid business, opening to $15 million and coming in No. 2.

Rated R, The Boy Next Door is the latest title from Universal’s deal with Jason Blum‘s Blumhouse. Directed by Rob Cohen (The Fast and the Furious), the $4 million film explores what happens when forbidden attraction goes too far.

Also opening this weekend is the George Lucas-produced Strange Magic, an animated family film that’s looking at a disappointing $5.5 million launch for a seventh-place finish.

From a story by Lucas, Strange Magic is an animated romp set in a whimsical land of potions, goblins and fairies that’s loosely inspired by William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The movie was already in the works when Disney swooped in and bought Lucasfilm in 2012, but Strange Magic was kept on the QT until last fall, when Disney announced a Jan. 23 release. The voice cast includes Evan Rachel Wood, Alan Cumming, Kristin Chenoweth, Maya Rudolph, Sam Palladio, Meredith Anne Bull, Alfred Molina and Elijah Kelley, who sing new versions of pop and classic rock songs.

Back in the top 10, British family film Paddington remained the family offering of choice ahead of Strange Magic and placed No. 3 with $12.4 million, falling only 35 percent. The movie, distributed by The Weinstein Co. in the U.S., has now grossed a better-than-expected $40.1 million domestically.