"American Sniper" has become the highest grossing film of 2014 topping tentpole films "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1" and "Guardians of the Galaxy."

The Clint Eastwood feature made an estimated $4 million this past weekend and brought its surprising total to $337 million. Pundits now predict it to end its run with $350 million, which would make it the second highest grossing R-rated film of all time.

The strength of "American Sniper" has been a surprise for most as the film was expected to open on Christmas 2015, but Eastwood finished the film earlier than expected. While it was expected to do well according to the limited release, most expected it to perform on par with similar Iraq War films "Lone Survivor" and "Zero Dark Thirty." Those war drama exceptional grosses especially since most Iraq film had been deemed box office poison. Some earlier releases included "In the Valley of Elah," "Lions for Lambs" and "Rendition." The latter three releases all flopped at the box office and reviews were all subpar.

"American Sniper's" surprising box office is also milestone because it is the first R-rated film and non-tentpole film since 1998's "Saving Private Ryan" to top the yearly box office. Since 1999, a big budget family tentpole driven film had always topped the box office.  

The 2014 box office was marked by a number of disappointing performances. Among those films included are "Transformers: Age of Extinction," "The Amazing Spider-Man 2" "Interstellar," "How to Train Your Dragon 2," "Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb," "The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies," "300: Rise of an Empire," "Mr. Peabody & Sherman," "Edge of Tomorrow" and "Noah" among others. The waning box office of these sequels and original concepts was most likely due to the lack of originality and the fact that audiences are now becoming increasingly demanding with what they see in theaters.

With release windows becoming increasingly shorter, audiences are taking to digital platforms and waiting for must-see fare to go out on these platforms.

This has already been seen in the 2015 slate with the flopping of high profile films like "Mortdecai," "Jupiter Ascending" "Seventh Son" and "Blackhat."

"American Sniper's" $337 million is a definite sign that audiences have new interests and are showing more openness to see a well-made drama. It also doesn't hurt that "American Sniper" had a hefty awards campaign and was nominated for six Academy Awards.     

But "American Sniper" wasn't the only drama to over perform at the box office. R-rated drama "Gone Girl" made an outstanding $167 million, while "The Fault in Our Stars" showed there is a huge woman audience. "Into the Woods" reassured studios that the musical still has an audience, while "Unbroken" was also a big surprise.

Even the Weinstein Company had a much needed breakout with "The Imitation Game." While these films definitely added to the diversity films that can sell, Hollywood is still a long way from figuring out how they can repeat the same success of "American Sniper" Out of the top ten in 2014 five were sequels, two were animated films, one was the start of a new franchise and one was a remake. More interesting was that four of the top ten were Disney properties and four came from or were inspired by Marvel.  

With the 2015 year already in full force it is unlikely an R rated film will top the box office. But it will be interesting if an awards player, an adult film or a non-animated or tentpole could once again make it into the top ten films of the year.