The Big Picture

Civil War
is A24’s second-highest grossing film at $51 million, surpassing favorites like
Lady Bird
and
Hereditary
.
The dystopian action movie is generating buzz for its divisive subject matter and strong performances from the cast.
A24 is breaking into big-budget cinema with
Civil War
and eyeing future projects like adapting
Death Stranding
into a film.

In just over two full weeks of release, writer-director Alex Garland’s Civil War has already become the second-biggest film in indie outfit A24’s history. Having been granted the studio’s biggest-ever budget of $50 million, the dystopian action movie passed the $50 million mark on its third Friday in domestic theaters, overtaking Uncut Gems’ lifetime haul to claim the number two spot on the list of A24’s highest-grossing films. The studio’s top-grossing film of all time remains Everything Everywhere All at Once, which concluded its domestic run with $77 million a couple of years ago, and went on to win the Academy Award for Best Picture.

Civil War added $1.9 million this Friday, taking its running domestic total to $51 million in just 15 days. The chances of the film eventually overtaking Everything Everywhere All at Once look bright, especially since it’s doing so well on Premium-Large Format and IMAX screens. The controversies that Civil War has generated because of its divisive subject-matter are also helping draw attention, no doubt. Set in a near future America that has been divided by a civil war, the film follows a group of war journalists on a cross-country journey to Washington D.C., where they intend to cover the capture of the dictatorial president.

Civil War’s $51 million gross puts it ahead of memorable A24 movies such as Lady Bird and Talk to Me (both with $48 million), Hereditary ($44 million), The Iron Claw ($35 million), Moonlight and Midsommar (both with $27 million), and Garland’s own Ex Machina, which concluded its domestic run with $25 million. The acclaimed filmmaker now has two movies on A24’s all-time top 10 list. Global numbers for Civil War are a little sketchy, with A24 having sold overseas distribution rights to local companies. But a Variety report from last week put the film’s global haul at around $70 million, which means that it is, at the very least, among the top 5 highest-grossing A24 films on the global chart.

‘Civil War’ Ushers A24 Into a New Era of Big-Budget Cinema

The indie studio is looking to level up after a decade producing some of the most acclaimed small-budget genre movies of recent times. In these 10 years, A24 has also earned a tremendous amount of brand recognition, which certainly played a major role in facilitating Civil War’s record opening of $25 million — nearly twice as high as the previous record-holder Hereditary’s $13 million debut. This is a notable pivot, considering A24 won Oscars in all six major categories just two years ago, when Everything Everywhere All at Once won Best Picture plus five acting Oscars, and The Whale picked up Best Actor for Brendan Fraser. The studio will soon be turningHideo Kojima’s “Death Stranding” video game into a live-action film.

Reviews for Civil War have been mostly solid. The movie earned a B- CinemaScore, and currently sits at a “fresh” 81% approval rating on the aggregator platform Rotten Tomatoes. In his review, Collider’s Matthew Donatocalled it Garland’s “best film,” and praised Kirsten Dunst’s lead performance as the desensitized photographer Lee Smith. Civil War also stars Wagner Moura, Cailee Spaeny, Stephen McKinley Henderson, and Jesse Plemons in a scene-stealing cameo. You can watch the film in theaters, and stay tuned to Collider for more updates.

Civil War The film follows events in the U.S. during a civil war. Government forces attack civilians. Journalists are shot in the Capitol.Release Date April 12, 2024 Director Alex Garland

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