HOLLYWOOD – American Sniper has set its sights on another record: Within a matter of days, it will overtake Steven Spielberg’s WWII classic Saving Private Ryan to become the top-grossing war-themed film of all time in North America, not accounting for inflation.
Clint Eastwood’s history-making movie jumped the $200 million mark on Sunday, putting it ahead of Michael Bay’s Pearl Harbor, another WWII title topping out at $198.5 million domestically in 2001. American Sniper is distinct from those two film in being set during a modern-day conflict.
Saving Private Ryan, released in 1998, earned $216.7 million […] Sniper will cross $216 million sometime this week for Warner Bros. and Village Roadshow.

Films addressing recent conflicts have had a decidedly mixed track record, but American Sniper’s is benefiting from a massive turnout in America’s heartland, as well as from its six Oscar nominations, including best picture and best actor for Bradley Cooper’s performance as the late Chris Kyle, a Navy SEAL who fought in the second Iraq war.
In celebrating Sniper’s $200 million milestone, Warners domestic distribution chief Dan Fellman said that Eastwood “created a gripping drama with a rare insight into the toll of war that has resonated with audiences in almost every demographic.” (read more)