Alex Garland’s “Civil War” is now in theaters. The reviews are good — 78 on Metacritic and 84% on Rotten Tomatoes. You can read my B+ review here.
All of this to say that “Civil War” just opened in 3500 locations and nabbed $3.5 million in previews last night. This could very well translate into a $25 million weekend, which would make it A24’s highest opening ever. Their previous biggest opening was 2018’s “Hereditary” which had a 3-day $13.5 million intake.
“Civil War” is also the most expensive film in A24’s young history. The budget is said to be around $50 million. This shows that, despite their future plans, A24 doesn't necessarily need big IPs to have mainstream success. I want them to continue making original films, “Civil War” proves there might be an audience out there for non-franchise filmmaking.
Criterion's December lineup has some great additions to the library, but the title that jumped out at me is Werner Herzog's "Grizzly Man," which officially joins the Collection on December 8.