How Much Money Will Civil War Make At The Box Office?

Summary Civil War has become A24's highest-grossing release, making over $25 million in just five days at the box office.

The movie needs to make $100 million to be considered a success, which is achievable but not guaranteed.

With limited competition in the coming weeks and a strong interest in its political themes, Civil War is poised to do well.

Civil War has the potential to make more money than any other A24 movie, with it thus far performing surprisingly well at the box office despite (or perhaps because of) its divisiveness. Directed by Alex Garland, Civil War tells the dystopian tale of an intense civil war that has consumed the United States of America. The film, like Alex Garland's previous movies, has been receiving generally positive reviews from critics. Additionally, it's proven to be popular among moviegoers and, thanks to Civil War's impressive box office opening, it could go on to be A24's highest-grossing release to date.

With an ensemble cast that includes Kirsten Dunst, Nick Offerman, Cailee Spaeny, Stephen McKinley Henderson, and Jesse Plemmons, Civil War is A24's most expensive movie to date. Despite being seen as controversial by some, Civil War has already fended off competition from Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire. The movie's box office prospects, therefore, look quite good, but there are a few challenges standing in Civil War's way.

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Civil War Has Made $25 Million At The Box Office

It's An Impressive Start To The Movie's Run

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Civil War was released on April 12 and in the short time it's been in theaters, the movie has grossed $25,712,608 at the domestic box office at the time of this writing. This is slightly higher than early projections, which predicted Civil War would have an opening of between $18-24 million. Internationally, the movie has earned an additional $1,016,914, giving it a worldwide box office total of $26,729,522 (via Box Office Mojo). With a budget of $50 million, Civil War has managed to make back over half of its production costs in less than a week.

Movie Domestic International Worldwide Total Civil War $25,712,608 $1,016,914 $26,729,522

What's more impressive is that Civil War has already made more money in its first five days of release than most A24 movies make in their entire theatrical run. Currently, the film is A24's ninth highest-grossing project in the U.S., just ahead of Garland's debut feature, Ex Machina. Globally, it's highly likely Civil War will break the top 10 of best-performing A24 titles at some point very soon.

Civil War Needs To Make $100 Million At The Box Office To Be A Success

It's Doable, But Not Guaranteed

Image via A24

Though Civil War's box office opening surpassed expectations, the movie is far from a guaranteed success. For starters, it has a bigger mountain to climb than any other entry in A24's back catalog. The film's budget of $50 million, though modest when compared to most blockbusters now, makes Civil War A24's most expensive release to date. In comparison, Beau Is Afraid - the previous holder of this title - had a budget of $35 million, which it failed to recoup.

If $50 million were all Civil War needed to break even, then both Garland and A24 would have less to worry about. After all, if the movie doesn't cross the $50 million mark by the end of this weekend, it has a chance to do so over the next month. However, with marketing and distribution costs taken into account, it's fair to assume that Civil War needs to make at least $100 million to be a success. While this is certainly doable, especially if the film's second-weekend drop-off is limited and word-of-mouth gets more people out to theaters than the average A24 film, Civil War still has a significant challenge ahead of it.

Civil War overtook Hereditary as the A24 movie with the best opening. Hereditary debuted with $13.6 million.

Even if Civil War manages to make it over the $100 million mark, it will still be a long way off A24's current highest-grossing release. As it stands, 2022's Everything Everywhere All At Once holds the record for the studio's best-performing movie, both domestically and worldwide. The film has a global box office total of $143,411,356, meaning Civil War still has a long way to go if it wants to rob Everything Everywhere All At Once of its title. It's highly unlikely this will happen, though: EEAAO's sci-fi story of a dimension-hopping wife and mother had broad global appeal, while the ultra-specific-to-America, bleak subject matter of Civil War means it will likely not be able to rely on the international box office to pad its total.

Predicting Civil War's Final Box Office Total

Things Look Pretty Good For Garland And A24

Whether Civil War ends up being a success is hard to say for sure. Nevertheless, the movie does have one thing going in its favor: a lack of competition. For the next few weekends, there's not much in the way of major releases. Both the horror movie, Abigail, and the Zendaya-starring sports drama, Challengers, could prove to be popular with moviegoers, as could Ryan Gosling's The Fall Guy, but none of them are likely to cause Civil War any serious damage. The next big release isn't until May 10, when Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes hits theaters.

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Civil War, therefore, has a clear run for the next few weeks. Add to that a palpable interest in the movie's political themes, possibly on account of it being an election year, and Civil War could end up doing pretty well. If the film experiences a second-week drop-off of around 50% as some have predicted, and if this trend continues for its entire run, it's likely Civil War will end up with a final worldwide box office total of between $80 and $100 million. While this figure is impressive, it's not quite enough to make Civil War a resounding success.