'Civil War’ Continues Box-office Campaign at No. 1

Cast members Dan Stevens, Melissa Barrera, Kevin Durand, William Catlett, Alisha Weir and Kathryn Newton attend a premiere for the film "Abigail" in Los Angeles, California, US, April 17, 2024. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni
Cast members Dan Stevens, Melissa Barrera, Kevin Durand, William Catlett, Alisha Weir and Kathryn Newton attend a premiere for the film "Abigail" in Los Angeles, California, US, April 17, 2024. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni
TT

'Civil War’ Continues Box-office Campaign at No. 1

Cast members Dan Stevens, Melissa Barrera, Kevin Durand, William Catlett, Alisha Weir and Kathryn Newton attend a premiere for the film "Abigail" in Los Angeles, California, US, April 17, 2024. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni
Cast members Dan Stevens, Melissa Barrera, Kevin Durand, William Catlett, Alisha Weir and Kathryn Newton attend a premiere for the film "Abigail" in Los Angeles, California, US, April 17, 2024. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni

“Civil War,” Alex Garland’s ominous American dystopia, remained the top film in theaters in its second week of release, according to studio estimates Sunday.
The A24 election-year gamble, the indie studio’s biggest budgeted film yet, took in $11.1 million in ticket sales at 3,929 theaters over the weekend, The Associated Press reported. The $50 million film, set in a near-future US in which Texas and California have joined in rebellion against a fascist president, has grossed $44.9 million in two weeks.
Its provocative premise – and A24’s marketing, which included images of US cities ravaged by war – helped keep “Civil War” top of mind for moviegoers.
But it was a painfully slow weekend in theaters – the kind sure to add to concern over what’s thus far been a down year for Hollywood at the box office.
Going into the weekend, Universal Pictures’ “Abigail,” a critically acclaimed R-rated horror film about the daughter of Dracula, had been expected to lead ticket sales. It came in second with $10.2 million in 3,384 theaters.
That was still a fair result for a film that cost a modest $28 million to make. “Abigail,” which remakes the 1936 monster film “Dracula’s Daughter,” is about a 12-year-old girl taken by kidnappers who soon realize they’ve made a poor choice of hostage. It’s directed by the duo Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett whose production company goes by the name Radio Silence.
More concerning was the overall tepid response for a handful of new wide releases – and the likelihood that there will be more similar weekends throughout 2024. Last year’s actors and writers' strikes, which had a prolonged effect on the movie pipeline, exacerbated holes in Hollywood’s release schedule.
Horror films, in recent years among the most reliable cash cows in theaters, also haven’t thus far been doing the automatic business they previous did. According to David A. Gross, who runs the consulting firm Franchise Entertainment Research, horror releases accounted for $2 billion in worldwide sales in 2023.
Guy Ritchie’s “The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare” debuted with $9 million in 2,845 theaters. In the based-on-a-true-story Lionsgate release, which reportedly cost $60 million to produce, Henry Cavill leads a World War II mission off the coast of West Africa.
Though Ritchie has been behind numerous box-office hits, including the live-action “Aladdin” and a pair of Sherlock Holmes films, his recent movies have struggled to find big audiences. The Lionsgate spy comedy “Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre” grossed $48 million against a $50 million budget, while MGM’s “The Covenant,” also released last year, made $21 million while costing $55 million to make.
A bright sign for “The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare”: audiences liked it. The film earned an A-minus CinemaScore.
The anime “Spy x Family Code: White,” from Sony’s Crunchyroll, also struggled to stand out with audiences. Though the adaptation of the Tatsuya Endo manga TV series “Spy x Family” has already been a hit with international moviegoers, it debuted below expectations with $4.9 million in 2,009 US theaters.
The mightiest film globally, though, continues to be “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire.” The Warner Bros. monster movie has for the past month led worldwide ticket sales. It added another $9.5 million domestically and $21.6 million internationally to bring its four-week global total to $485.2 million.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at US and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore.



Timothee Chalamet Channels Bob Dylan with Warning about Cult-like Figures

 US-French actor Timothee Chalamet attends a press conference for the film "A Complete Unknown" presented as Berlinale Special at the 75th Berlinale, Europe's first major film festival of the year, in Berlin on February 14, 2025. (AFP)
US-French actor Timothee Chalamet attends a press conference for the film "A Complete Unknown" presented as Berlinale Special at the 75th Berlinale, Europe's first major film festival of the year, in Berlin on February 14, 2025. (AFP)
TT

Timothee Chalamet Channels Bob Dylan with Warning about Cult-like Figures

 US-French actor Timothee Chalamet attends a press conference for the film "A Complete Unknown" presented as Berlinale Special at the 75th Berlinale, Europe's first major film festival of the year, in Berlin on February 14, 2025. (AFP)
US-French actor Timothee Chalamet attends a press conference for the film "A Complete Unknown" presented as Berlinale Special at the 75th Berlinale, Europe's first major film festival of the year, in Berlin on February 14, 2025. (AFP)

Timothee Chalamet learned from his roles as Bob Dylan in "A Complete Unknown" and Paul Atreides in "Dune" that cult-like figures should be approached with caution, the Oscar-nominated actor said at the Berlin Film Festival on Friday.

"It's in the nature of his music, the warnings against cult-like figures," Chalamet told journalists when asked what he learned from the US singer-songwriter about how to deal with the current state of the world.

"My interpretation is just be wary of any savior-like figures," said Chalamet, whose Dylan biopic was being shown in the festival's non-competition Special section.

"That's honestly the warning in Frank Herbert's 'Dune', which was written in the same period in American history," added Chalamet.

"Granted, Frank Herbert was on the West Coast, probably doing acid at a typewriter, and Bob Dylan was on the East Coast, but the messaging was still similar," Chalamet said.

The 29-year-old actor starred in both parts of Denis Villeneuve's science-fiction epic "Dune", based on author Herbert's highly acclaimed 1965 novel of the same name.

Chalamet, a frontrunner in the race for best actor at next month's Oscars for his turn as Dylan, said he was grateful for his chance to play the artist.

"A Complete Unknown", which also stars Edward Norton, Elle Fanning and Monica Barbaro, chronicles Dylan's arrival in New York in 1961, his rapid ascent in folk music circles, and his divisive turn to electric rock music in 1965.

"We (the cast) know these projects are few and far between now," he said.

"I was looking at the Berlinale film program, you guys have a lot of really intellectually driven, artistically driven projects, but I guess we do in the States too, but ... these things are harder to come by."