‘Civil War’ edges out ‘Abigail’ to keep box office lead

FILE PHOTO: Kirsten Dunst poses on the red carpet during the Oscars arrivals at the 96th Academy Awards in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. She stars in “Civil War” as Lee, a fictional Reuters photographer. FILE PHOTO/REUTERS/Sarah Meyssonnier

LOS ANGELES – “Civil War” held onto its spot atop the box office on a slow weekend, taking in $11.1 million in its second week in North American theaters, according to industry estimates released Sunday.

Writer/director Alex Garland’s drama about a sectarian conflict in the United States beat out the horror film “Abigail,” which opened with $10.2 million, Comscore reported.

“Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” grossed another $9.4 million Friday through Sunday in its fourth week in theaters.

Fourth place went to director Guy Ritchie’s “The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare,” which opened with $9 million, followed by “Spy x Family Code: White,” which opened with $4.8 million.

Rounding out the top 10 domestic releases were “Kung Fu Panda 4” ($4.6 million), “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire” ($4.4 million), “Dune: Part Two” ($2.9 million), “Monkey Man” ($2.2 million) and “The First Omen” ($1.7 million).

This weekend’s overall three-day box office haul was estimated at $65.4 million. The year-to-date total is $1.981 billion — down 19% from the figure at this time last year, according to Comscore.

“Civil War” is a tense thriller about a group of journalists documenting societal collapse as they chase a scoop in a conflict-torn United States.

Set in the near future and both a war film and a road movie, “Civil War” sees fictional Reuters photographer Lee (Kirsten Dunst) and reporter Joel (Wagner Moura) take to the road with the aim of reaching Washington, D.C., before it falls to a rebel faction.

To Lee’s dismay, aspiring young photographer Jessie (Cailee Spaeny) and veteran reporter Sammy (Stephen McKinley Henderson) also tag along for the obstacle-ridden trip from New York.

“It’s a story about journalists and why we need them and what they do. But it’s also asking a question, which is why is good journalism not getting the traction? What’s gone wrong? And then a very similar question about sort of polarized populist politics, extremist politics,” Garland said at the .film’s premier in London last month.

Garland, director of “Ex Machina” and writer of “28 Days Later” and “The Beach” began writing “Civil War” in 2020, at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and in the lead up to the U.S. presidential election that year. (With CNS report)