\n<\/p>\n
Hollywood executives \u2014 not all, but most \u2014 have insisted for years that uncomfortable, thought-provoking, original movies can no longer attract big audiences at the box office.<\/p>\n
Moviegoers continue to bust that myth.<\/p>\n
Alex Garland\u2019s dystopian \u201cCivil War,\u201d set in a near-immediate future when the United States is at war with itself, sold an estimated $25.7 million in tickets at North American theaters, enough to make the film a strong No. 1, surpassing the monsters sequel \u201cGodzilla x Kong: The New Empire.\u201d Ticket sales for \u201cCivil War\u201d exceeded the prerelease expectations of some box office analysts by roughly 30 percent. IMAX screenings provided nearly 50 percent of the \u201cCivil War\u201d gross.<\/p>\n
More than 70 percent of the total audience was male, according to exit-polling services. PostTrak, one of those firms, said that people with \u201cliberal\u201d or \u201cmoderate\u201d political views attended most heavily.<\/p>\n
\u201cCivil War,\u201d starring Kirsten Dunst as a journalist on a military embed, became the latest example of ticket buyers breaking with Hollywood\u2019s conventional wisdom about what types of films are likely to pop at the box office. Christopher Nolan\u2019s \u201cOppenheimer,\u201d a three-hour period drama about a physicist, took in $968 million, wildly surpassing studio expectations. \u201cPoor Things\u201d collected $117 million, a solid total for a surreal art film.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Garland (\u201cEx Machina\u201d) wrote and directed \u201cCivil War,\u201d which gave A24, the specialty film company, its first No. 1 opening. (A24 was founded in New York in 2012.) The movie also cost more to make than any A24 movie to date: at least $50 million, not including tens of millions of dollars in marketing.<\/p>\n
The R-rated film benefited from a savvy release date \u2014 a time when Americans, sharply divided, are paying attention to the coming presidential election but are not yet completely worn out by it \u2014 and a marketing campaign that positioned the story as more of an action thriller than a gritty exploration of the frightening but not unthinkable<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cDystopian thrillers are generally set in futuristic worlds that look very different from contemporary life,\u201d David A. Gross, a film consultant who publishes a newsletter<\/a> on box office numbers, said in an email. \u201cThey use a lot of special effects and science fiction to tell their stories. \u2018Civil War\u2019 is doing the opposite: It looks like right now<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n That storytelling choice, he added, \u201cis bending the genre into something contemporary and relatable. The story is not directly partisan, but it\u2019s provoking partisan feelings. It\u2019s a fine balance to strike. Audiences are emotionally engaged, and that\u2019s impressive.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n