GIVE THE PEOPLE WHAT THEY WANT: Box-Office Shocker: ‘American Sniper’ Targeting Massive $75M-Plus Debut.

Clint Eastwood’s American Sniper is smashing records at the North American box office, where it’s now projected to earn $75 million or more over the long Martin Luther King Jr. weekend, well ahead of expectations.

That would mark the largest opening of all time for the month of January, as well as for a modern-day war movie. To boot, it is one of the top nationwide debuts for an R-rated title.

Contrast with Hollywood’s sad anti-war movies of the Bush era, which barely earned back their catering budgets.

UPDATE: IowaHawk: