Gran Torino
Gran Torino, which has attained the highest gross at the U.S. box office of any film in legendary actor/director Clint Eastwood’s filmography, is also a career best in the UK with the biggest three-day opening of his career.
Gran Torino made £1,351,278 in the UK this weekend. In Ireland, where after its second weekend the film remains at the top of the box office, Gran Torino has accrued £729,768, losing only 14% box office share week on week.
Gran Torino has scored $138 million at the U.S. box office and is still growing.
The film is directed by Eastwood, who stars as an iron-willed Korean War veteran who is forced by his immigrant neighbors to confront his own long-held prejudices.
The film’s U.S. gross tops the list of pictures directed by and/or starring Eastwood, including In the Line of Fire ($102m), the Oscar-winning Unforgiven ($101m) and Million Dollar Baby ($100m), Space Cowboys ($90m), Every Which Way But Loose ($85m), Mystic River ($90m) and The Bridges of Madison County ($71.5m).
In the U.S., Gran Torino opened for a three-week limited run, during which it landed on a number of year-end ten best lists, with Eastwood’s performance and the film’s screenplay winning awards from the National Board of review, among other accolades.
The film expanded to general release on January 9 and raced to the top of the weekend box office, earning a record-breaking $29.5m and becoming the biggest-ever opening for an Eastwood film as well as the biggest-ever 3-day January opening.