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Guy Ritchie's Henry Cavill-starrer 'The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare' was also new, along with 'Abigail,' the latest movie from Radio Silence.
By Pamela McClintock
Senior Film Writer
Alex Garland’s dystopian political action film Civil War about an America torn apart triumphed over new vampire pic Abigail at the weekend box office.
Civil War held in well to stay No. 1 in its second weekend with $11 million for a healthy domestic total of $45 million for indie studio A24. The film has succeeded in uniting both blue states and red states.
Heading into the weekend, Universal’s Abigail was expected to take a bigger bite out of Civil War but instead opened to $10.2 million. That’s still a respectable number for a studio film that cost a modest $28 million to make before marketing.
Horror often struggles overseas, where Abigail only took in $5 million from 62 markets for a global start of $15.2 million,
Abigail is from Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, the directing duo known as Radio Silence who were behind the reboot of the Scream franchise and the horror hit Ready or Not. Their new movie, written by Stephen Shields, follows the horrors that happen when a group of criminals kidnap a 12-year-old who is the daughter of an underworld figure. The only problem: The young ballerina is a vampire.
Warner Bros. and Legendary’s Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire remained a force to be reckoned with in its fourth weekend, earning another $9.8 million to place No. 2 as it stomped past the $170 million mark domestically and a huge $485.2 million globally, including a mighty $119 million in China. And don’t forget about Legendary and Warners’ Dune: Part Two, which is on the cusp of crossing $700 million at the global box office.
Guy Ritchie‘s new movie The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare wasn’t too far behind, with an opening of $9 million. The ensemble film, whose cast includes Henry Cavill, chronicles a covert World War II mission manned by a band of renegades who are tasked with destroying Nazi U-boats (it’s loosely based on real events). The Lionsgate film boasts an A- CinemaScore.
Universal and DreamWorks Animation’s hit family film Kung Fu Panda 4, now in its seventh outing, and Sony/Crunchyroll’s new anime offering Spy × Family Code: White were in a close race for No. 4, but the latter prevailed with a strong opening of $4.9 million.
Spy x Family Code, which continues a winning streak for Japanese anime, is a spy-action comedy based on the shōnen manga series Spy × Family by Tatsuya Endo.
Kung Fu Panda 4 placed No. 5 with $4.6 million for a dazzling domestic tally of $179.9 million. Overseas, it celebrated crossing $300 million for a global cume of $480.3 million.
Another movie making headlines overseas was Luca Guadagnino’s tennis drama Challengers, starring Zendaya, Josh O’Connor and Mike Faist. From MGM, with Warners handling international duties, the film opened in Australia to a promising $672,000. Challengers, which was delayed because of the SAG-AFTRA strike, rolls out in the U.S. next weekend.
Back in North America, it was a sluggish weekend in the U.S. as year-to-date revenue tumbled nearly 20 percent behind last year, and 33 percent from 2019. Year-over-year weekend comparisons are even more bleak considering this was when The Super Mario Bros. Movie opened in 2023. Put another way, summer can’t come soon enough for Hollywood.
April 21, 7:50 a.m.: Updated with revised domestic and international estimates.
April 21, 9:30 a.m.: Updated with revised domestic and international estimates.
This story was originally published April 20 at 10:02 a.m.
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