Civil War Takes A24 To The Next Level With Studio's Biggest Box Office Opening Weekend Ever
Few movie studios can lay claim to the kind of brand name prestige that A24 has. Founded in 2012, the indie distributor has quickly become beloved by cinephiles and the A24 logo alone is enough to draw views to a trailer. It's a reputation that's been well-earned, through great horror movies like "Hereditary" and "Talk to Me" and off-the-wall genre films like "The Green Knight" and "Everything Everywhere All At Once." The latest A24 film comes from filmmaker Alex Garland (whose films "Ex Machina" and "Men" were distributed by A24 in the U.S.), and it has already set a new record for the studio.
"Civil War" is set in an imminent-future nightmare where the United States of America has fractured into multiple warring factions, and follows a group of war journalists (played by Kirsten Dunst, Wagner Moura, Stephen McKinley Henderson, and Cailee Spaeny) as they journey to Washington, D.C., in the hopes of scoring a final interview with the defiant president (Nick Offerman) before rebel military forces move in to capture the capital. Per Variety, "Civil War" came out of the gates strong with A24's biggest opening day ever ($10.7 million, including previews) and is on track to set an opening weekend record as well with an estimated debut of $26 million, roughly double A24's previous record-holder ("Hereditary," with a $13.5 million opening weekend).
The victory is partly down to the fact that A24's release strategy has never really relied on opening weekends before, instead leaning more towards slow-but-steady rollouts that take advantage of positive word-of-mouth. This is also A24's widest release ever, with "Civil War" landing in 3,838 theaters nationwide, and a $50 million production budget makes this the studio's most expensive movie yet.
Can A24 keep its street cred as it grows?
"Civil War" marks the beginning of a new chapter for A24, which in 2022 secured $225 million in equity investment — a deal which included Ken Fox, founder of financial investment company Stripes, joining A24's board. That kind of investment makes bigger-budget projects like "Civil War" possible, but fans of the studio's output may understandably be worried about A24 losing its soul. In October 2023, The Wrap reported that A24 acquisition executive Noah Sacco was shopping around for "action and big IP projects" and "deemphasizing the traditional character/auteur driven dramas."
Though this news drew accusations that A24 was "selling out," it is possible in theory for the studio to grow the scale and scope of its projects without sacrificing quality. And there's no denying that A24 has had a lot of misses to go with the hits. If the studio is to survive, it needs to make money. And independent studios growing in size and influence from the ground up is certainly preferable to a Hollywood landscape entirely controlled by tech conglomerates.
For now, worrying about A24 diluting its brand seems premature. "Civil War" has received high praise from critics, including /Film's own Jacob Hall, and its B- CinemaScore suggests that it's dividing general audiences in a way that's practically a point of pride for indie movies ("Hereditary" received a D+ CinemaScore). A $26 million domestic opening weekend is a strong start, but "Civil War" will need staying power and decent overseas performance to surpass "Everything Everywhere All At Once" ($139.4 million worldwide) and become A24's highest-grossing movie ever.