The Super Bowl dominates U.S. attention this weekend. The movie studios know it and generally choose to maintain a low profile on a weekend when the Sunday audience is typically 70% below the Saturday crowds. This year is only different in that “American Sniper” has been in wide release for three weekends now and is expected to add more than $30 million to the coffers of Warner Bros. studios and Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX).

“American Sniper” has grossed $217 million in the United States and another $47.5 million internationally, and the film is expected to be the top grossing film again this weekend. The new competition includes “Project Almanac” from Viacom Inc.’s (NASDAQ: VIAB) Paramount studios; “Black or White,” starring Kevin Costner in a film from independent Relativity studios; and “The Loft” from another independent, Open Road Films.

While “Project Almanac” could finish second in the weekend sweepstakes, neither of the other films is expected to beat either “Paddington” from The Weinstein Company or “The Boy Next Door” from Comcast Corp.’s (NASDAQ: CMCSA) Universal Studios.

So the weekend’s top five scoreboard is shaping up like this: “American Sniper” looks to sell about $31.3 million in tickets, “Paddington” is slated for $7.8 million, “Project Almanac” is tagged for $7.75 million, “Black or White” is expected to gross $6.2 million and “The Boy Next Door” is forecast to bring in $5.7 million.

The Super Bowl has sold all its available advertising time at a reported rate of about $4.4 million to $4.5 million per 30-second spot. The first minute of advertising will put more money in NBC’s (Comcast’s actually) pocket than the entire weekend run of “The Boy Next Door” and the third minute will bring the total to more than the bottom two of the weekend’s top grossing movies.

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