The strong opening of Civil War justifies A24's biggest budget ever and suggests the art house distributor might be able to play with the big boys on their turf.
Since its founding a little over a decade ago, A24 has been one of the premier, if not the premier, indie studios in Hollywood. It got immediate attention with its second release, Spring Breakers, which cast two former Disney stars (Vanessa Hudgens and Selina Gomez) as slutty college girls engaging in sex and violence. In early 2016, the studio won its first major Oscar, as Brie Larson won Best Actress for Room. A year later, it captured Best Picture with Moonlight. In 2023, it shepherded its trippy action comedy Everything Everywhere All At Once first to becoming a surprise box office smash, then to winning 7 Oscars, including sweeping all the top Oscars but Best Actor, which went to Brenden Frasier in The Whale, another A24 title.
The studio has released a number of wide releases before, mostly horror films (including last summer's sleeper hit Talk to Me), as well as taking films that opened in limited release wide. However, with Civil War, A24 for the first time has a film that cost a significant amount of money (a reported $50 million budget) and is playing in over 3,000 theaters. The thriller by Alex Garland, who had an early hit for the studio with Ex Machina, justified the investment, opening to a solid $25.5 million, easily the most money one of the studio's films had made in one weekend (the previous record holder was the $13.6 million opening weekend of Hereditary). It is the best opening for an R-rated film since The Exorcist: Believer, and the best opening for a completely original film (i.e. not a franchise cog, not based on any existing story or product, not a biopic, not a concert film) since Elemental. It should finish somewhere between $60 and $80 million, enough that it should at least pass Uncut Gems to become the studio's second-highest-grossing title ever, and has an outside chance of becoming A24's first $100 million grosser, if it is able to exhibit strong legs.
After two weeks on top, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire lumbers down to second, taking in $15.5 million. The sci-fi thriller, which sees the two giant monsters team up to take on an even bigger villain (and destroy a few more major world cities in the process) has stomped off with $158 million so far. It is still possible that this gets to $200 million and tops Godzilla, the franchise starter, but it seems likely to have to settle for the second highest Monsterverse movie instead. That said, this is a solid turnaround for a franchise that seemed to be losing more audience with every subsequent release. Unsurprisingly, the spin-off Apple TV+ series Monarch: Legacy of Monsters got a renewal this week.
The odd man out of March's blockbuster sequel-palooza, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, has yet to hit the $100 million mark even after three weekends of release. The fifth theatrical Ghostbusters film (and fourth in the main franchise timeline) took in $5.8 million for an ice-cold $96.9 million, and seems highly unlikely to top Ghostbusters 2's $112.5 million (which, of course, was earned in 1989). Who you gonna call? Probably not this franchise again for a few years.
On the other hand, Kung Fu Panda 4 has officially kicked itself to the second-highest gross of its franchise, taking in another $5.5 million for a total of $173.7 million. This one will finish well short of 2008's first entry, but this does represent a solid comeback for the series, which had been dormant (at least on the big screen) since 2016.
The year's biggest film so far, Dune: Part Two, brought in another $4.3 million in sand dollars, for a spicy total of $272.1 million. At this point, $300 million is almost certainly out of reach, but it will likely reign as the year's top movie until at least June.
Monkey Man seems like a certain cult hit in the making, but it will have to wait for a bit, as theatrical audiences are proving to be quite fickle. The action thriller fell a hard 60% to $4.1 million, for a ten-day total of $17.8 million. Universal's $7 million investment into a Super Bowl commercial for the film is not looking particularly wise at the moment.
The First Omen isn't doing so hot itself, but it held up a bit better than Monkey Man, falling 55% to $3.8 million. The horror title has scared up a ten-day total of $14.7 million, and seems likely to, like Monkey Man, finish a bit above $20 million.
Back in 2004, the early summer box office was dominated by Shrek 2, which ultimately finished its run with $441.4 million, at the time the highest-grossing animated title of all time (it has since been surpassed by The Incredibles II, Frozen II, and the 2019 Lion King). To celebrate its 20th anniversary, the comedy, which sees Shrek, Fiona, and Donkey visit Fiona's royal parents in Far Far Away and run afoul of her fairy godmother, got a re-release to the tune of $1.5 million, not bad for a title that has been widely available for home viewing since George W. Bush's re-election.
Opening in ninth is The Long Game, starring Jay Hernandez and Dennis Quaid as a school superintendent and coach in 1950s rural south Texas who lead a group of youths into overcoming discrimination against Mexican-Americans, both on the golf course and in life. The lightly promoted drama earned $1.3 million, and will likely attract some attention when it hits VOD and streaming in the coming weeks.
Continuing the proud tradition of awkwardly-titled BTS concert films, member Suga's solo concert film SUGA: Agust D Tour 'D-Day' The Movie played exclusively on Saturday and brought in $1 million, good enough for tenth for the weekend. It also played last Wednesday, so its total stands at $2 million.
Outside the Top Ten, romantic drama Someone Like You dropped a whopping 72%, leading to a ten-day gross of $4.9 million. Meanwhile, Nicolas Cage, who makes movies about as often as other people take breaths, has another one, the apocalyptic thriller Arcadian. It attracted little interest, opening to $0.5 million, though it will likely do better on streaming.
As opposed to March's series of blockbuster sequels, pretty much every wide release in April, including Civil War, seems designed less to be a box office hit and more as a beloved cult title in the months and years to come. This week is no exception, as three new titles arrive to challenge Civil War for the top spot. Abigail stars 14-year-old Alisha Weir in her second film, after Matilda: The Musical, where she plays the titular character, a young girl with extraordinary powers who uses them to thwart her enemies. Unlike the PG-rated Matilda, however, Abigail's powers earn this film a hard R. Also earning an R is The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, from prolific director Guy Ritchie (in his third directorial effort in the last 13 months), starring Henry Cavill, Alex Pettyfer, and Henry Golding as members of an un unconventional WWII squad who are tasked to be, well, ungentlemanly, while on a special mission against the Nazis. Any similarity to Inglourious Basterds is, I'm sure, just a coincidence. Also opening is the latest theatrical spin-off of an anime series, Spy x Family-Code: White, an action comedy about a makeshift family where the dad doesn't know his wife is an assassin, she doesn't know her husband is a spy, and neither know their adopted daughter is telepathic and knows both their secrets. Will Abigail show that creatures of the night can rise to the top? Will The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare conquer the box office? Or will Civil War continue the reign of the red, white, and blue? We'll find out next week.
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