‘Civil War’ Record Opening Leaves A24 With More to Prove

Long heralded as a bastion of auteur risk-takers, A24 stepped into the minefield of blockbuster hopefuls last weekend with Alex Garland’s “Civil War.” 

The result was a $25 million opening, its best to date. 

But that wasn’t a high bar to clear. 

Before “Civil War,” A24’s best opening was Ari Aster’s “Hereditary,” which opened to just over $13 million in 2018. While “Everything Everywhere All at Once” would become A24’s top film overall four years later, it spent its first few weeks in limited release and slowly stacked its haul through word-of-mouth hype as it went wide. 

With a $50 million production budget, “Civil War” is A24’s most expensive film to date and cost $15 million more than Aster’s “Beau Is Afraid,” which failed to break $10 million last year as A24’s last big production expense. 

The “Beau” flop was counteracted by Sundance acquisition “Talk to Me,” an Australian horror film that earned nearly $50 million over the summer and helped give A24 another record box office year after. In response, the distributor quickly greenlit a sequel, signaling a Blumhouse-like approach to franchising its horror movies after ordering a trilogy of horror films from Ti West, the third of which, ”Maxxxine,” is due in July. 

Like Garland, who first helmed “Ex Machina” for the distributor in his directorial debut, Aster is an A24 mainstay whose past horror efforts, “Hereditary” and “Midsommar,” were received modestly at the box office. Still, “Beau” was a leapfrog passion project with a three-hour runtime that overshadowed Joaquin Phoenix’s star power, despite him being the face of 2019’s “Joker,” the best R-rated film ever at the box office that earned Phoenix an Oscar. 

By contrast, “Civil War’s” eerie portrayal of a divided U.S. at war, timed for a highly contentious election year where the current and former presidents will duke it out, seems intentionally made to stoke filmgoers’ emotions the same way “Joker” invoked a state of panic that compelled police precincts to boost patrols during the film’s opening. 

A24’s willingness to up the budget ante and release films that go toe-to-toe with major-studio fare is just as much a measure to maintain good standing with directors whose careers it helped launch, despite the “Beau” misstep. After Garland made a splash with “Ex Machina,” he went to Paramount to produce “Annihilation,” his eco-thriller that was budgeted above $40 million.  

Likewise, Robert Eggers went to Focus Features for “The Northman,” his $70 million Viking epic, after helming “The Witch” and “The Lighthouse” for A24 and also worked with Focus on his upcoming reimagining of “Nosferatu.” The most notorious loss for them was Greta Gerwig, who followed A24’s “Lady Bird” with “Little Women” for Sony and then Warner Bros.’ summer sensation “Barbie.” 

“Civil War” may have succeeded in keeping Garland in the family, but its marketing strategy to give the film legs past its opening weekend has already exceeded the intensity fans are used to and brought the distributor’s film-lover reputation down a peg.  

A24 released several new promotional posters Wednesday depicting iconic U.S. locations as battlegrounds, but social media users noticed right away the use of generative AI software to make them, leading to swift backlash. A24 was an early adopter of SAG-AFTRA's new contract during last year’s strikes, allowing the studio to shoot as AMPTP projects were still shut down, so to be caught up in an AI snafu while promoting its biggest project yet could register as cause for concern over its push into more mainstream status. 

That said, it’s a push to make now or never while there’s still momentum. Competing arthouse distributor Neon has all but given up on the box office, barely promoting films it releases on top of each other during the holidays despite outbidding major studios to acquire Michael Mann’s “Ferrari,” which was produced for $100 million and originally propped up at STX Films, a short-lived mini-major that didn’t survive the pandemic. “Ferrari” failed to break $20 million domestically and made just over $40 million worldwide. 

If “Civil War” can keep its hype and notoriety going past the “Everything Everywhere All at Once” ceiling, A24 stands the chance to signal itself as a place directors can come for more expensive visions that capitalize on the zeitgeist of issues and events encapsulating the nation, especially if Apple pulls back on blank checks after the disastrous box office run of “Argylle” through distributing partner Universal, which cost $200 million to make. 

With major studios in cost-saving mode, or outright rescue mode in Paramount’s case, now’s the time for A24 to prove its films can be the new anchors of film exhibition — provided “Abigail” doesn’t bite away its second weekend.