THR is reporting that A24 and Alex Garland’s “Civil War” is currently tracking with a strong $24 million opening weekend, thanks to “interest among younger males, and even among younger females”. That’s ahead of A24’s current all-time best first weekend, 2018’s “Hereditary” which had a $13.6 million opening.
The “Civil War” budget is said to be around $50 million, which makes it A24’s most expensive movie to date. Obviously, controversy sells and “Civil War” has definitely transcended movie culture and become a contentiously debated film in the political sphere. That very strong $24 million tracked opening is indicative of that.
The film had its world premiere at the South by Southwest and TV festival where it garnered many favorable reviews. It currently has a 77 on Metacritic and sits at 91% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. However, there has been a few negative responses attacking Garland for “bothsideism” and wanting him to be more explicit about parallels to today’s politics. Garland isn’t biting, he says the last thing he wanted was for his film to be some kind of “lecture.”
“Civil War” was shot in the spring of 2022 and, by all accounts, was supposed to be released in 2023 only to be delayed for this election year. The AP has called Garland's film an "election year provocation," and said it was a "bold gamble to capitalize on some of the anxieties that have grown in highly partisan times and ahead of a potentially momentous November presidential election."
To say it blew the roof off the place would be an understatement. I don't think I've ever seen a Toronto audience — any festival audience — embrace a movie the way they did last night.