Box office unites behind “Civil War” A24's dystopian thriller earned $10.7 million Its opening day and preview screenings from 3,838 locations are debuting to around $26 million.
The debut mirrored the first-day grosses for A24, besting the $5.1 million 2018's “Hereditary” earned in its first screenings. That horror feature still holds the record for the indie banner's highest opening weekend with $13.5 million — a watermark that “Civil War” should top before Saturday ends. “Civil War” is getting a boost in sales from playing in premium-large-format auditoriums like IMAX.
The Alex Garland-directed combat feature is a record to be broken, as it is the most expensive feature in A24 history. “Civil War” cost $50 million to produce, plus additional costs for marketing and distribution. It's a massive project for the indie studio after raising $225 million from investors and receiving a $2.5 billion valuation two years ago.
Reviews for the R-rated “Civil War” have been strong, while early ticket buyers have been so divided that the Audience Survey Service CinemaScore turned in a B- grade. A24's top domestic grosses include “Everything Everywhere All At Ones” ($77 million), “Uncut Gems” ($50 million), “Lady Bird” ($48.9 million) and last year's horror breakout “Talk To Me.” ($48 million). Hoping to land among those top performers, “Civil War” should serve as a safe start to sell out seats in the coming weeks.
Kirsten Dunst directs “Civil War” as a photojournalist leading a brutal conflict between the US government and separatist forces. Wagner Maura, Kaylee Spaney, Nick Offerman and Stephen McKinley Henderson also star. Garland writes and directs.
After two weeks on the domestic charts, “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” will slip to second place with $3.9 million on Friday. It has decreased by 54% $8.5 million on its second Friday last week. Monster Mash will move beyond $150 million domestically to more than $225 million on Saturday. It surpassed “Kong: Skull Island” ($168 million) as the second-highest-grossing kaiju entry from Legendary Entertainment and Warner Bros., behind 2014's “Godzilla” ($200 million).
“Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire” lands in third place, predicting a 40% drop from last weekend. Sony's supernatural comedy is approaching $100 million domestically and has now crossed $92 million. By comparison, after four weekends of release in 2021, predecessor “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” reached $129 million and $117 million domestically. “Frozen Empire” will see some drop from those numbers when it ends its own run.
Universal will take fourth place with DreamWorks Animation's fourquel “Kung Fu Panda 4,” bringing another impressive hold (-33%) to lift its domestic total to $173.4 million.
The studio takes fifth place with “Monkey Man,” projecting $4.5 million for its sophomore outing, down 56% from its opening weekend.
