Alex Garland's provocative “Civil War” didn't just ignite discourse. The film also motivated audiences to go to theaters this weekend, beating expectations and bringing in $25.7 million in North American ticket sales, according to studio estimates on Sunday.
This is the biggest R-rated opening so far this year and also a record for Studio A24, which produced films such as “Everything Everywhere All at Once'' and “Iron Crow.'' “Civil War” also knocked “Godzilla x Kong” off the top of the box office. The Warner Bros. movie has held the No. 1 spot for the past two weekends.
“Civil War” stars Kirsten Dunst, Cailee Spaeny, and Wagner Moura as frontline journalists who travel to Washington, D.C., to cover a devastating conflict in the United States in the near future. It's also the spirit behind “Ex Machina” and “Annihilation,” imagining a United States where California and Texas united against a president who disbanded the FBI and gave him a third term.
Though completely fictional, “Civil War'' has sparked discussion beyond the musings of film critics and traditional reviews since its first trailer. This weekend, the New York Times published two opinion pieces related to the film. One by Stephen Marche and the other by Michelle Goldberg. Articles were also published on CNN and Politico.
Over the weekend, the film is projected to have an opening box office gross in the range of $15 million to $24 million. The film was released on his 3,838 screens in the United States and Canada, including Imax. It is the most expensive film ever made by the studio, with a production budget of $50 million, not including the millions spent on marketing and promotion.
Before Civil War, A24's biggest debut was Ari Aster's horror Hereditary, which grossed $13.6 million in 2018. A24 doesn't always release movies nationally. The studio said “Civil War” overperformed in markets “from Los Angeles to El Paso.”