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Story highlights "American Sniper" earned $105 million over its first weekend in wide release Americans may be finally ready for a movie about the Iraq War Adding to its appeal: The movie is a human story, not a political one

The movie is drawing huge crowds across the moviegoing and political spectrum, from left-leaning cities to conservative small towns. Its audiences include large percentages of women and older viewers, two groups that don't typically flock to the multiplex.

"American Sniper" has the look of a bona fide cultural phenomenon. All of which has Hollywood executives, and a lot of other people, scrambling to understand why.

The movie has no doubt benefited from good timing: It hit 3,500 theaters the day after nabbing six Oscar nominations, including best picture. But Oscar love doesn't always translate to popular success -- "The Hurt Locker," the 2009 best picture winner about a U.S. Army bomb-disposal team in Iraq, earned only $17 million in North America over its entire run.

And until now, audiences have mostly stayed away from films about the unpopular wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

So why has "American Sniper" -- distributed by Warner Bros., which is owned by Time Warner, the parent company of CNN -- struck a chord when so many other modern-day war movies have not?

Here are five reasons:

We're finally ready for a movie about the Iraq War

It's been three years since the U.S. involvement in Iraq formally ended, and we have some distance on it.

With the vast majority of U.S. troops out of harm's way, audiences may finally be receptive to a movie that no longer hits too close to home.

Read more:
Why this war movie is a smash hit