The film had the biggest opening weekend box office total of the Academy Award-winning Eastwood’s career, surpassing the opening weekend of 2009′s ‘Gran Torino‘ in one day.
The film was expected to do well after being supported by a massive promotional campaign from Warner Bros. studios, coupled with controversy over the portrayal of Kyle, with some critics saying Kyle’s autobiography showed him to be a racist who claimed killing was “fun,” as opposed to the gentle family man portrayed in the film’s trailers.
Criticism of the film and Kyle had led to death threats and online harassment comprised of racist and violent sexual comments against some critics.
With the wide scale release of the film this weekend, some took to Twitter with tweets reflecting the words Kyle used in his book towards people in Iraq and Afghanistan whom he called “savages.”
