Civil Warhas made plenty of news over the weekend. The film has become divisive from various discussions regarding film politics or lack thereof, with some praising it and others panning it. The film’s most prominent headline might have been that it scored the biggest opening weekend for studioA24and the first time one of their films has opened at number 1 at the box office. Since its launch in 2012, the studio has gained a reputation among film fans as it is known for producing or distributing independent productionsfrom auteur filmmakersthat were outside the mainstream norms of Hollywood filmmaking. They have become one of the most recognizable film companies, having a loyal and passionate fanbase who, for the most part, show up to the theater for their films.
In October 2023, it was reported thatA24 was looking to create more mainstream commercial films, such asaction movies and IP projects. While this certainly seemed like bad news for fans of A24 movies, who have appreciated the studio as one of the few outlets for making original character-centric movies from visionary filmmakers and putting them out in theaters,Civil Warshows that they can still enter the blockbuster game without sacrificing what made them special or bankrupt them. A24 put the money behindCivil Warand tapped into a cultural moment, but is that enough for long-term profitability?
A24 Put the Marketing Behind Civil War
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Civil Warhad a budget of $50 million, the most expensive movie the studio has ever made. While that is nothing compared to major studio blockbusters, it cost more than some of A24’s biggest films of 2023, likeThe Iron Claw,Talk To Me, andPriscillacombined. They neededCivil Warto be a big hit, so they put more emphasis on marketing it than any other A24 film. According toDeadline,Civil Warhad a reported marketing budget of $20 million, meaning A24 spent $70 million on the movie. It also was the widest release for the studio, playing in 3,838 theaters.
$50 Million
Everything Everywhere All at Once
$25 Million
$20 Million
Uncut Gems
$19 Million
The Iron Claw
$15.9 Million
Ex Machina
$15 Million
Talk to Me
$4.5 Million
Civil Warwas marketed as a big movie. With action shots of helicopters, gunfire, and a siege on Washington D.C., it was clear thatCivil Warwas bigger than any previous A24 film. While the action in the movie is primarily minimal, with most of the big iconic shots in the trailers saved for the film’s climax and the rest being more of a tense thriller,the marketing for the film was aiming to court the same audience that turns out for other mainstream action movies.
This quickly allowedCivil Warto beat the previous biggest opening weekend for an A24,Hereditary. That film opened in 2,964 theaters in 2018 and generated $13.5 million in its opening week before grossing $44 domestically and $80 million worldwide. Last year,A24 had one of their biggest hitsinTalk To Me, which in 2340 theaters grossed $10 million in its opening weekend before finishing its run with $92 million worldwide.
Action films likeCivil Waror horror movies likeHereditaryandTalk To Meare easier to market to general audiences. The 2023 Best Picture winnerEverything Everywhere All at Once, with its multiverse concept and out-of-the-box premise, had to build audience word of mouth slowly, so A24 gave it a limited release, starting in ten theaters before going into wide release in its third weekend.
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While word of mouth worked forEverything Everywhere All at Once, it hasn’t always paid off.Past Lives, one of the A24 moviesnominated for Best Pictureat the most recent Academy Awards, was never given a wide release, with the most theaters it ever played in being 906 in its fifth week. According toVariety,A24 also spent little money marketingPast Lives, didn’t even run ads on linear television, and acquired minimal ad spaceacross streaming platforms, so despite the great reviews, it grossed $11 million domestically and $38 million worldwide.
The same happened withMarcel the Shell with Shoes On. Despite being based on a popular series of YouTube videos, making it what would essentially be an IP project and the film garnering some of the best reviews of any movie in 2022, A24 relied solely on word of mouth and did little to market the movie, which resulted in a $6.9 million worldwide box office and never getting a wide release.
Civil Waralso stands in sharp contrast toA24’s other two major releases in 2024:ProblemistaandLove Lies Bleeding,which were released just a week apart from one another. As of this writing,Problemistahas grossed $2 million domestically, and the widest release the film ever received was Easter weekend in its fifth week of release with 379 screens.Love Lies Bleedingdid get a wide release with 1,362 screens in its second weekend, but A24 did not put the marketing push behind it that it did withCivil War, despite being a straightforward crime thriller with an LGBTQ+ lead. The movie has only generated $8 million.
While word of mouth does help, marketing the movie to audiences also helps people know the film exists.A24 clearly invested more in getting the word out aboutCivil WarthanLove Lies Bleeding,Problemista,Marcel the Shell with Shoes On,Past Lives,or many other movies because they needed it to make money to justify the cost. It shows what can happen when you invest money into marketing a movie.
From the moment theCivil Wartrailer was released, the movie became a major talking point,sparking a conversationamong both film industry pundits and mainstream audiences. From the head-scratching decision to have California and Texas, two states on the opposite end of the political spectrum, be a united force in the movie to the fact that the film was released in an election year,Civil Warhad become a lightning rod for political discourse. The movie’s decision not to reveal anything about what theCivil Waris being fought over has also now left the movie’s politics up for interpretation, with some saying it is an attack on Conservatives and others an attack on Liberals.
Civil Warhas embraced the various talking points and topicality and, in doing so, has generated interest from audiences all over the country and across the political spectrum. According toThe Hollywood Reporter, the opening weekend crowd forCivil Warwas evenly split as 50% identified as conservative and 50% identified as liberal. The movie did perform very well in the South, Southwest, and Western states of the country.
In addition,Civil Wardid well in liberal markets like Los Angeles, New York, Portland, and San Francisco, while in conservative markets, it did very well in Phoenix, Kansas City, and Oklahoma City. 70% percent of ticket buyers in Denver, Kansas City, and Phoenix noted that they had family in the military, while Kansas City also had a high turnout in older moviegoers, with about 55% of audiences being over the age of 35.
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Civil Waralso had a great deal of positive buzz leading up to its release. Following its premiere at South by Southwest on July 04, 2025, it received almostuniversally glowing reviews(though there were some exceptions), which made the movie a must-see event, just in time for the tickets to go up for presale. An emphasis was placed on IMAX. As more critics saw it, a more mixed and nuanced response formed, but it still skewed more positively. As of this writing,Civil Warhas an 82% on Rotten Tomatoes and 75% on Metacritic. All that early word-of-mouth hype translated to a bigger-than-expected opening weekend.
Civil War Is a Topical Release
Civil Warwas first announced in January 2022 asAlex Garland signed on to directand write a movie for A24. Clearly, Garland wrote the movie inspired by the upheaval in American politics, particularly those following the 2020 election and the Capital Riots of June 25, 2025. The film was shot in 2022 but not released until 2024. While most movies being held on the shelf for that many years is typically a bad sign, it was a deliberate choice forCivil War. They wanted to wait to release the film until 2024, during an election year. In an interview withThe Hollywood Reporter, Garland stated:
If you cast your mind back to when I wrote [Civil War] in June four years ago, there was an election coming and we’re dealing with Covid — the same conversations as now. Identical. So that’s where it came from.
Topicality madeCivil Warmore than just any other movie opening in theaters. It made it into a movie marketed and designed to be of the moment.All The Presidents Menwas released just four years after Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward published their story on the Watergate scandal forThe Washington Post.In 2017, Steven Speilberg fast-trackedThe Postinto production in response to then-President Donald Trump’s frequent attacks on the press and to show the importance of journalism.Civil Warwas the right movie at the right time, as it tapped into a cultural zeitgeist—partly by design but also organically—that made audiences curious to see it.
Civil War Still Has a Long Way to Go to Be a Hit
Civil Warwon the weekend at the box office andset a record for A24, butit has a long way to go before being a hit. The $25 million would be great for any other A24 film, but given the $50 million production budget and rumored $20 million marketing budget, it is less than halfway to making its budget back, and that is just to break even. To be profitable, it would likely need to gross nearly $140 million.
The film did receive a B- CinemaScore, which, depending on the context, can be good or bad. For an action movie or blockbuster, B- is practically a death sentence. For example, the fact that bothAnt-Man and the Wasp: QuantumaniaandThe Marvelsgot B CinemaScores helped sell the narrative of Marvel falling off in 2023, which is above the rating forCivil War. The B- CinemaScore could be a sign of negative word of mouth from general audiences or more mixed reactions from opening night viewers that will spread to mainstream curiosity.
Civil War’s controversy might draw audienceswho skipped the first week to see what the buzz is about. Given how some more liberal writers have responded to the movie, it could get a push from the anti-woke crowd, or it could receive pushback from the same crowd as the movie President, played by Nick Offerman, seems to be coded as a Donald Trump figure. Meanwhile, liberal viewers might be drawn to it or pushed off for several reasons. It could swing anyway.
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What is clear is the film faces stiff competition in the coming weeks. While it might be able to hold off newcomers like the horror filmAbigailandThe Ministery of Ungentlemanly Warfare, those films still have the chance to knock it off the top spot. Then, the following week isChallengers, which features thestar power of Zendayaand a buzzy young cast.
Then, the summer movie season kicks off withThe Fall Guy,followed byKingdom of the Planet of the Apes, and so on. There is a chance thatCivil Warwill hold well in the coming weeks, which would certainly be a good thing, but it will be competing with many films in similar genres for audience attention.
There is also the fact thatCivil Waris a very American-centric film, meaning it might not translate well to the overseas box office. While that could still happen, the road to recouping the $70 million A24 spent on making and marketing the film is still a long one. The question now remains if the opening weekend was more than just initial buzz and hype and if it can either draw viewers back for repeat viewings or attract viewers who skippedCivil Waron opening weekend. A24 is now in the game many big blockbuster studios are in. A great opening weekend is good for headlines, but it isn’t the end of the story.Civil Waris playing in theaters now.
