Bradley Cooper and Clint Eastwood's 'American Sniper' Coming Christmas Day

Bradley Cooper's already given his best performance of the year with Guardians of the Galaxy, but he still has American Sniper yet to hit theaters. Cooper plays Chris Kyle, the most prolific sniper in American history, and with Clint Eastwood directing, Cooper has a chance at Oscar glory once again. Warner Bros. announced on Tuesday that that chance will come on Christmas Day when American Sniper debuts in theaters.

Before Eastwood took the reins of American Sniper, Steven Spielberg and David O. Russell were both circling the project. Either one of them would have elevated the film to another level (probably that Oscar level we were just discussing). Look, Eastwood won an Oscar for directing Million Dollar Baby, but his recent work helming movies like Jersey Boys shows that he's more of a bold name than a director with style. If you want someone to swing in, direct a movie on schedule and on budget, Eastwood is your guy. He's not Spielberg or Russell though. Which is too bad for Cooper.

American Sniper stars Cooper, Sienna Miller, Luke Grimes, Kyle Gallner, Jake McDorman, Cory Hardrict and Sam Jaeger. It'll be in theaters on Dec. 25.