‘Civil War’ Faces Three Wide Adversaries In Second-Weekend Box Office Battle – Preview

Anthony D'Alessandro
·3 min read

With spring break simmering to 8% K-12 on break, and 1% colleges off, it’s a hodgepodge at the weekend box office until 20th Century Studios’ Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes arrives to an expected $50 million-plus opening during the second weekend of May.

A24’s Civil War, which currently counts $27M through Monday after $1.9M yesterday, will need to defend its No. 1 flag from Universal’s Radio Silence-directed genre title Abigail. Both are looking at around $12M apiece. Still, that would rep a 53% decline for Alex Garland’s dystopian, divided America thriller, which would be excellent. Civil War will share Imax auditoriums with Sony/Crunchyroll’s anime Spy x Family Code: White as well as the Nathaniel Kahn-directed documentary Deep Sky.

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‘Abigail’
‘Abigail’

Booked at 3,300 theaters, Abigail stars Melissa Barrera and the late Angus Cloud as well as Dan Stevens (Gaslit, Legion), Kathryn Newton (Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Freaky), William Catlett (Black Lightning, True Story), Kevin Durand (Resident Evil: Retribution, X-Men Origins: Wolverine) as a bunch of kidnappers who opt to abduct 12-year old ballerina Abigail (Alisha Weir). She’s the daughter of a powerful underworld figure, and her ransom is for $50M.

In an isolated mansion, the captors, whose job it is to watch her, start to dwindle, one by one, and they discover, to their mounting horror, that they’re locked inside with no normal little girl. The pic will share PLF screens with Lionsgate’s Guy Ritchie-directed The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, which is looking at mid single-digits, as well as Spy x Family Code: White, which is looking to do about the same.

Abigail, directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, starts previews on Thursday at 5 p.m. Men and women 18-34 are the sweet spot. Reviews for the R-rated pic are currently at 82% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.

A $6M-ish opening for the Ritchie movie is in the same realm as The Covenant. The R-rated Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare received an A- CinemaScore during last weekend’s sneaks and will preview at 6 p.m. Thursday before going wide in 2,700 theaters.

‘The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare’
‘The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare’

The Ritchie-written title is based upon recently declassified files of the British war department and inspired by true events. Pic tells the story of the first-ever special forces organization formed during WWII by Prime Minister Winston Churchill and a small group of military officials including author Ian Fleming. The top-secret combat unit, composed of a motley crew of rogues and mavericks, goes on a daring mission against the Nazis using entirely unconventional and utterly “ungentlemanly” fighting techniques. Ultimately their audacious approach changed the course of the war and laid the foundation for the British SAS and modern black ops warfare. Henry Cavill, Eiza González, Alan Ritchson, Alex Pettyfer, Hero Fiennes Tiffin, Henry Golding and Cary Elwes star. Some exhibitors believe the movie has a shot at blowing past its estimates. RT reviews are at 81% fresh.

‘Spy x Family Code: White’
‘Spy x Family Code: White’

Spy x Family Code: White is booked at 2,000 engagements with 4 p.m. Thursday previews going in 1,870 sites. Pic will be available in both Japanese with English subtitles and dubbed in English. The Takashi Katagiri-directed movie is the first film installment of the TV series, here with a stand-alone story featuring secret agent <Twilight>, his deadly assassin wife Yor, and their telepathic adopted daughter Anya in an all-new mission. Pic is based on the Harvey- and Eisner Award-nominated manga written and illustrated by Tatsuya Endo. The TV series debuted on April 9, 2022, with the first two seasons available to watch on Crunchyroll.

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