Why Civil War Blew Up At The Box Office

It's become routine for A24 to deliver box office hits that take people by surprise. In 2023 alone, the studio put out unexpected money-makers like "Talk to Me," "Priscilla," and "The Iron Claw." This indie studio has become skilled at turning unorthodox premises into box office sensations, and A24 hit new box office heights with the opening weekend of Alex Garland's "Civil War." The harrowing dystopian war movie made $25.7 million in its opening weekend, making it the biggest debut ever for the studio and the first A24 title to top the domestic box office.

These impressive achievements underscore just how remarkable the opening box office figures for "Civil War" are. However, they only scratch the surface of why this particular title became such a big performer for A24. Once you begin to dig deep into the background of "Civil War," you find several factors at play that laid the groundwork for this historic debut. Hold on tight, because we're about to head to the frontline and discuss why "Civil War" has become an A24 box office hit like no other. 

Before November 2017, no A24 movie had made more than $30 million domestically. Those days are now a distant memory. A24 has steadily become a trustworthy brand for moviegoers, promising a level of quality. Even in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, which shook up the theatrical landscape like nothing ever seen in modern times, the studio has launched significant, original hits, like the best picture winner "Everything Everywhere All at Once." The appeal of the A24 brand is reflected in how this studio has spawned a dedicated fanbase (dubbed "The cult of A24" by Vulture), an accomplishment few other arthouse labels can claim.

Of course, this doesn't mean that A24 can turn every release into a can't-miss event, but the studio's become adept at selling mainstream-skewing genre movies like "Civil War." The presence of the A24 logo on "Civil War" marketing materials alone would have caught the eye of many moviegoers: The reputation of this outfit for delivering quality movies clearly aided the film's quest to stand out from the crowd. It also likely helped that the cast contains several actors who have shown up in other A24 titles, like Kirsten Dunst ("Woodshock"), Cailee Spaeny ("Priscilla"), and Stephen McKinley Henderson ("Lady Bird"). The success of "Civil War" reflects just how far A24 has come since it was founded in 2012.

"Civil War" held its world premiere at the 2024 South by Southwest film festival in Austin, Texas. This buzzy event has become a go-to launchpad for genre movies, including A24's previous hit "Everything Everywhere All at Once." A new release can generate lots of buzz with a SXSW premiere, propelling it to box office success once it opens in theaters everywhere. That outcome certainly came to pass with "Civil War," which took over all conversation at SXSW after a successful premiere. "The first-blush audience reactions are raves, with viewers calling the film a riveting and haunting movie," said The Hollywood Reporter.

The premiere took place around a month before "Civil War" opened in theaters for general moviegoers. This gap meant that there were four weeks for the film to build on those positive SXSW reviews: For nearly a month, "Civil War" rode a wave of goodwill that originated from those early SXSW reviews. This was a challenging original movie that audiences may not have turned out to see just based on the trailers. The A24 marketing team needed time to get people acclimated to the idea behind this motion picture, and the critics who got to see it in Austin definitely played their part. All the SXSW buzz surrounding "Civil War" simmered in the marketplace and led to a bumper opening weekend.

When "Civil War" hit theaters over the April 12-14, 2024 weekend, it was largely up against sequels and family-friendly features. "Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire" had dominated the domestic box office for two consecutive weekends. "Kung Fu Panda 4" was racking up massive weekend sums, and "Ghostbusters: Frozen Legacy" was also making some coin by playing to families. While "Monkey Man" and "The First Omen" were providing some R-rated competition to those titles, they're both very different to "Civil War," which offered gritty realism on a massive scale.

Rather than getting swallowed up by the aforementioned, mainstream-skewing features, "Civil War" managed to get bums on seats. The film's marketing made it clear that this was a bleak movie and an original title at that. Those qualities may have alienated moviegoers in other contexts, but in this instance, those were exactly the elements that made "Civil War" feel unique. With nothing even remotely similar on offer, Alex Garland's movie had the breathing space to really go the distance at the box office.

Before "Civil War" hit theaters, people couldn't stop talking about how potentially dangerous this feature was, given the tense political situation in the United States in recent years. Was this movie destined to stir up trouble, possibly even violence? Hands were wrung and pearls were clutched over the real life outcomes of putting a movie like "Civil War" into theaters in 2024. However, rather than giving this original film a bad pre-release reputation, all the talk just increased the notoriety of "Civil War." This was a motion picture that got people talking before it premiered to general audiences, something that ultimately worked in its favor.

All the conversation about the film's political leanings and potential ramifications kept it on people's radars for months on end. Typically, only comic book movies and big budget reboots generate this much press before their release. "Civil War" exploited the internet discourse machine like few other modern, original movies have, staying on people's lips in the process. The film became a popular conversation starter, a topic that everyone wanted to share their two cents on. You simply had to have an opinion on "Civil War" if you wanted to be in discussions with your friends and family, or around water coolers in the office. This laid the groundwork for the film's strong opening weekend.

Back in December 2017, A24 jumped on the IMAX bandwagon by releasing "The Disaster Artist" in the format. At the time, this move looked more like A24 taking advantage of those screens being up for grabs in early December rather than an indicator that the studio was embracing IMAX for the long-term. Subsequently, A24 only made sporadic return trips to the format with titles like "The Tragedy of Macbeth," "Everything Everywhere All at Once," and "Beau is Afraid." With "Civil War," A24 really committed to the format and emphasized that the title was available on those massive screens in trailers and posters. 

A24's dedication to turning "Civil War" into an IMAX event paid off big time. Alex Garland's gripping war film grossed $4.2 million from domestic IMAX locations, which accounted for more than 16% of its entire North American opening weekend take. The very presence of "Civil War" on IMAX screens exuded the idea that this was a motion picture you just had to see on the big screen, rather than waiting for it to come to streaming. There's been a bunch of recent box office hits that have thrived on IMAX, namely "Oppenheimer" and "Dune: Part Two," which blew everyone away at the box office. "Civil War" exploited that trend and solidified its status as a must-see blockbuster by opting for IMAX.

Alex Garland's previous directorial efforts have not been massive hits at the box office. "Civil War" more than doubled the worldwide haul of "Men" in just three days, while it also roughly matched the domestic box office gross of "Ex Machina" after a single weekend. However, Garland's various directorial efforts have become cult classics that people still talk about. Projects like "Ex Machina" and "Annihilation" have endured long after their theatrical runs drew to a close. These are movies that have spawned GIF's and lasting images that continue to reverberate through pop culture.

At this point, Garland's name carries as much weight as the A24 label. Put the two together, and you've got a recipe for box office success. Even Garland's work as a novelist ("The Beach") and screenwriter ("28 Days Later") have contributed to him becoming a cult figure with a notable fanbase. Having now spent over two decades ingratiating himself with moviegoers as a writer and director, he's built up a considerable amount of goodwill. Sure, he's not a Christopher Nolan-level draw, but the lingering positivity surrounding his body of work certainly didn't hurt "Civil War."

You don't get big, blockbuster grosses unless your movie appeals to every corner of America. In the aftermath of its opening weekend, demographic statistics emerged suggesting that "Civil War" had accomplished that level of appeal. Of course, some areas were more keen than others. "The markets that overperformed were L.A., San Francisco, Washington, D.C., Phoenix, Austin, Navy hub San Diego, and conservative market Denver," Deadline reported. "But then there were these smaller regional markets that rallied, including El Paso and Waco, Texas."

The fact that the feature's $25.7 million opening weekend haul was boosted by Texan moviegoers isn't that surprising considering the plot of the movie. The film's marketing campaign made it clear that California and Texas secede from the U.S. in the picture, which no doubt piqued the interest of those living in the Lone Star State. This also reflects the significance of Texas to the modern box office landscape: In 2023, Dallas was the third-highest grossing domestic market for movies, behind only Los Angeles and New York.

"Civil War" was originally supposed to premiere on April 26, 2024. Though not necessarily a cursed launchpad, this slot did present some challenges. Most notably, this date would have ensured that "Civil War" would be opening just one week before the summer moviegoing season kicked into gear. The film would have been quickly followed by big hitters like Ryan Gosling's "The Fall Guy" and the franchise flick "Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes," leaving it with little room to develop legs. This may not have prevented it from doing well on opening weekend, though with another dystopian, action-heavy movie opening on that exact same day (the Bill Skarsgård-led "Boy Kills World"), it wasn't really a smart choice.

Bringing "Civil War" forward to April 12 was ultimately a smart move. This new date gave the film some breathing room, allowing it to attract moviegoers that may have otherwise held back their hard-earned money for the likes of "The Fall Guy" and "Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes." There's also the fact that the eventual release date was closer to the SXSW premiere, meaning there was less chance for the hype to die down between the film's festival bow and its theatrical release. The right release date is always crucial, and the people behind "Civil War" got it spot on.

Something that undoubtedly helped the opening weekend box office performance of "Civil War" was the presence of leading lady Kirsten Dunst, who is still a highly respected name in movie circles many years after debuting as a child star. Her role as Mary Jane Watson in Sam Raimi's "Spider-Man" trilogy has made her a Hollywood legend — her steamy kiss with Tobey Maguire's Peter Parker remains iconic to this day. She went on to feature in plenty of critically acclaimed pictures in the years that followed, such as "Hidden Figures" and "Midnight Special." Her stock was high coming into "Civil War," following an Oscar nomination for her turn in "The Power of the Dog."

Dunst's reputation was enough to make the idea of her starring in a dystopian war thriller an enticing prospect for moviegoers. And, what's more, the way she conducted herself during the film's press tour drew a lot of praise, with IndieWire calling her "our most reasonable movie star." When the first batch of "Civil War" interviews dropped following the premiere at SXSW, Dunst got plenty of plaudits from the critics: The Guardian called her turn as photojournalist Lee Smith "excellent," and AV Club called her work in the film "phenomenal." She clearly played a big part in the film's opening weekend box office success.

A24 usually focuses on advertising its films online. That's in sharp contrast to the biggest movie studios. Big hitters like Warner Bros. have been known to spend around $40 million just on television ads. TV commercials are costly, but big studios tend to see them as an easy way to get eyeballs on new motion pictures. A24 has opted to go its own way in promoting its films, often to solid and even outstanding box office results. However, for "Civil War," A24 moved away from its conventional marketing practices and learned to love TV advertising. 

According to Deadline, the marketing campaign for "Civil War" cost over $20 million to pull off. This included a bevy of expensive TV spots. For an indie studio like A24, spending that much money is a big risk. Luckily, "Civil War" scored the studio's biggest domestic opening weekend of all time, so, when all is said and done, the risk will have probably been worth it. This doesn't mean that A24 will go down the TV route from now on, but "Civil War" was clearly a special case — the company knew it had a potential blockbuster on its hands.

War movies can often mean big bucks for movie studios. Though "war is hell," as they say, American moviegoers love to see patriotic displays of the country's military might. Plus, the horrors of war can also produce a spectacle that demands a big-screen viewing. In the pantheon of World War II cinema alone, there's a slew of box office hits like "Saving Private Ryan," "Pearl Harbor," and "Dunkirk," among many others. While "Civil War" isn't based on a real war, it's still firmly in a genre that has a solid box office track record.

The $50 million-plus budget of "Civil War" makes it A24's priciest movie to date, though that's a very reasonable amount for a film of this scale: 2019's "Midway" cost twice as much to make, for example. The most lucrative war movies of all time show that a $50 million budget can be recouped quite easily if the film is good, so "Civil War" shouldn't have any issues in this department. The film seems destined to make a lot of money in the long run.

No movie exists in a vacuum. In the case of "Civil War," the larger context that bolstered its box office take on opening weekend was that audiences seem to have a renewed affection for grim films. In 2023, the similarly-themed "Oppenheimer" became a global box office sensation despite audiences knowing full well that the film is about the creation of a weapon that would later be used to cause death and destruction on a massive scale. Sometimes, the pop culture zeitgeist is in a place where audiences want only lighthearted escapism, but that doesn't seem to be the case at the moment.

Currently, many moviegoers are craving something darker when they head to the cineplex. "Civil War" was all too happy to accommodate that desire with its somber atmosphere and grisly violence, playing off the fractured state of American politics. Rather than providing relief from the real world, "Civil War" amplifies its horrors. On paper, that could have spelled doom for this film in terms of box office receipts, but things didn't pan out that way. As it turned out, "Civil War" became an ideal follow-up act to "Oppenheimer" and will no doubt convince producers that the appetite for war movies is as strong as ever in the United States.