Box Office: ‘Civil War’ Drawing Blood in Battle With New Vampire Pic ‘Abigail’ for No. 1

BY PAMELA MCCLINTOCK

Alex Garland’s dystopian political action film Civil War about an America torn apart appears to be fending off new vampire pic Abigail at the box office.

If estimates hold, Civil War will stay No. 1 in its second weekend with $11 million for a healthy domestic total of more than $44 million for indie studio A24.

Heading into the weekend, Universal’s Abigail was expected to take a bigger bite out of Civil War but is now looking to open in the $10 million range (numbers could shift, of course, depending upon Saturday traffic). That’s still a respectable number for a studio film that cost a modest $28 million to make before marketing

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 the 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 Empireremains a force to be reckoned with in its fourth weekend and is expected to come in No. 3 with more than $9 million as it clears the $170 million mark domestically.

Guy Ritchie‘s new movie The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare shouldn’t be far behind with an opening in the $8.8 million range. 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 Crunchyroll’s new anime offering Spy × Family Code: White are in a close race for No. 4 with an estimated weekend haul in the $4.5 million range.

Some box office pundits believe Spy x Family will prevail and come in higher. The animated Japanese spy-action comedy is based on the shōnen manga series Spy × Family by Tatsuya Endo.

Kung Fu Panda 4‘s domestic total should hover around $180 million domestically through Sunday.

Overall, weekend revenue is sluggish as year-to-date revenue tumbles more than 20 percent behind last year. Summer can’t come soon enough for Hollywood studios.