‘Civil War’ Contends With ‘Abigail,’ ‘Ungentlemanly Warfare’

It’s a tight competition at the domestic box office, with the first day gross of Universal’s ballerina vampire film “Abigail,” leading Lionsgate’s new film “The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare” and the second-highest picture of the dystopian thriller from A24 “Civil War”.

“Abigail” earned $4 million from 3,384 theaters on its opening day and previews, making it the best showing of the weekend so far. But after factoring in the $1 million the horror film grossed in screenings before Friday, it comes in behind A24’s “Civil War,” which was actually the top-grossing film on April 19, with about $3.3 million.

Meanwhile, Lionsgate’s “The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare” generated an estimated $3.7 million from 2,845 locations — a figure that includes $1.45 million in previous preview screenings. All three films are looking at weekend revenues of between 10 and 10 percent.

For “Abigail,” that would be a bit short of industry projections, which suggested an opening of between $12 million and $15 million. The original R-rated vampire film is the first at Universal for directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillet, the directing team known as Radio Silence that revived the “Scream” franchise with its recent fifth and sixth entries .

“Abigail” has a fairly modest, but not insignificant, production budget of $28 million, so the film hopes to have some staying power in the coming weeks. Reviews have been positive, while early ticket buyers are more mixed (typical of the horror world), as indicated by a B rating determined by audience survey company Cinema Score.

Melissa Barrera returns to Radio Silence to direct “Abigail,” alongside a cast including Dan Stevens, Will Catlett, Kathryn Newton, Kevin Durand, Giancarlo Esposito, Alisha Weir and the late Angus Cloud. The story follows a team of burglars whose plan to recover $50 million (almost double the film’s production budget!) goes awry when they encounter a little monster hungry for blood.

Meanwhile, the “Department of Anti-Gentleman Warfare” seeks to exceed industry projections of $5 million to $6 million. Nice outperformance, but the action comedy reportedly cost around $60 million to produce.

For director Guy Ritchie, the film represents another box office dud following the heist film “Operation Fortune: Ruse of War” and the war thriller “Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant,” both of which were released in theaters on last year and failed to meet their production budgets. in global revenue. The hope is to see a solid home video life for the Black Bear-funded war film, indicated by Prime Video which already takes the bulk of worldwide distribution rights. Lionsgate is offering the film a theatrical release in North America.

Reviews have been positive and audiences are interested in it (it got an A rating on Cinema Score). But fighting for third place against “Godzilla x Kong”‘s fourth weekend isn’t exactly a stellar start.

Henry Cavill, Henry Golding, Alan Ritchson and Eiza González star in “The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare,” which puts a pulpy spin on the history books, following a British platoon that stages an attack on the Nazis during WWII World War.

In its second release, A24’s “Civil War” looks strong, with its industry competitors projecting a 56% drop from its $25.7 million opening weekend. It’s not as steep as the lukewarm B-Cinema Score suggests, meaning A24 has reached an audience interested in being challenged. The Alex Garland-directed thriller has a good chance of retaining the top spot on the national charts this weekend, an impressive result for the indie studio’s most expensive production to date. A24 sold its rights in foreign markets before its release, helping to quickly recoup some costs. Now, with domestic receipts surpassing $40 million on Saturday, the war thriller appears to be in a good position.

Also open this weekend, Sony’s animation label Crunchyroll is showing “Spy x Family Code: White” in 2,009 theaters, with some showings in Imax auditoriums as well. The adaptation of the hit manga series “Spy x Family” is forecasting $4.8 million over three days, which would be good for a top-five spot on the domestic charts. This satisfies fans, who earned an A rating on Cinema Score.

Meanwhile, “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” is poised to potentially upset the competition by cracking the top three, as the feature film from Legendary Entertainment and Warner Bros. earned $2.3 million on Friday, down 40% from a week ago. Now in its fourth weekend of release, the monster mash looks to top $170 million domestic through Sunday. It closely competes with Universal’s “Kung Fu Panda 4” ($175 million) for the title of second-highest-grossing North American release of the year.