Clint Eastwood’s highest-grossing movie as a director, American Sniper, is now streaming on Netflix more than a decade after being nominated for Best Picture. Eastwood, who is now 94 years old, has directed dozens of great movies on top of being one of the most prolific American actors, particularly in the Western genre, who has ever lived. Eastwood started his directing career in Hollywood in 1971 with Play Misty for Me, a psychological thriller about a DJ named Dave whose life unravels after a romantic encounter with an obsessed fan named Evelyn.

Eastwood then starred in and directed one of his most classic films, Dirty Harry, later that same year. Eastwood has directed himself in several of his all-time great films, including Best Picture winners Unforgiven (1992) and Million Dollar Baby (2004), Gran Torino (2008), and The Mule (2018). He’s also directed several other instant classics without starring in them, such as the Oscar-winner Mystic River (2003), Invictus (2009), Sully (2016), Richard Jewell (2019), and Juror #2 (2024). None of his movies, however, have outgrossed 2014’s American Sniper, which earned $548 million worldwide and was nominated for six Oscars.

Clint Eastwood’s American Sniper Is Now Streaming On Netflix

American Sniper Was Nominated For 6 Oscars In 2015

Clint Eastwood and Bradley Cooper’s American Sniper is now streaming on Netflix. Based on the 2012 bestselling book American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History by Chris Kyle, Scott McEwen, and Jim DeFelice, American Sniper takes aim at the authentic war experiences of Chris Kyle, who, as the тιтle suggests, is considered to be an elite marksman and Navy SEAL. The book sold over 1.2 billion copies worldwide and was one of the top-selling books on the planet in 2015. Bradley, who plays Kyle, was nominated for Best Actor at the 2015 Oscars.

While Bradley Cooper leads the cast of American Sniper as its protagonist, Chris Kyle, the film also features performances by Sienna Miller, Kyle Gallner, Jake McDorman, and Luke Grimes. American Sniper earned a Rotten Tomatoes score of 72%, paired with an audience score of 84%. Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian called the film “a disappointment” and a “worryingly dull celebration of a killer“, while other critics were more favorable. Kenneth Turan of the LA Times writes, “Eastwood’s impeccably crafted action sequences so catch us up in the chaos of combat we are almost not aware that we’re watching a film at all.”

American Sniper’s Box Office Earnings Explained

It’s Eastwood’s Highest-Grossing Movie Of All Time

American Sniper had a theatrical release date of December 25, 2014, which set it up nicely for the holiday movie crowds and for awards season consideration. American Sniper’s impressive box office performance made it the highest-grossing film of Eastwood’s career as both an actor and director.

American Sniper also remains Bradley Cooper’s highest-grossing film that doesn’t include the MCU after The Hangover II, which raked in $587 million worldwide. American Sniper had a production budget of just $59 million, making it a mᴀssive success for Eastwood, Cooper, and Warner Bros.

According to Box Office Mojo, American Sniper pulled in nearly 64% of its $547.6 million box office total from domestic audiences, which makes sense given the subject matter. This comes to just over $350 million from the United States and North America alone, and $197.5 million from international markets. American Sniper had a limited release on Christmas Day, only earning roughly $633,000 on its opening weekend, before reaching 3,885 theaters on January 16, 2015, just in time for Martin Luther King Day Weekend to accrue $107.2 million, its highest weekend total. After its critical acclaim and box office success, American Sniper played in theaters through mid-June 2015.

American Sniper Earned Bradley Cooper His Third Academy Award Nomination

Cooper Has Yet To Win His First Oscar

American Sniper earned Cooper his third acting Oscar nomination following Silver Linings Playbook (Best Actor) and American Hustle (Best Supporting Actor). The film only won one of its six nominations, Best Sound Editing, ultimately losing the Best Picture race to Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance). Eastwood was not nominated for Best Director for American Sniper, but the adapted screenplay, which was written by Jason Hall, was nominated and lost to Graham Moore’s The Imitation Game.

Cooper has been nominated for 12 Oscars, including a Best Picture nomination for American Sniper as a producer on the project. Recently, he’s been nominated for various Oscars in several main categories for A Star Is Born (Best Picture, Actor, Adapted Screenplay), Joker (Best Picture), Nightmare Alley (Best Picture), and Maestro (Best Picture, Actor, Original Screenplay). Although American Sniper didn’t land him an Academy Award, the film remains one of his biggest blockbuster hits.

Sources: The Guardian, LA Times, Box Office Mojo