New ‘Civil War’ film features scenes set in West Virginia

CHARLESTON, WV (WOWK) — Alex Garland’s “Civil War,” an A24-distributed film that chronicles journalists going to D.C. to interview the President during a second civil war, has scenes that feature West Virginia.

The film follows a band of journalists: Lee (Kirsten Dunst, “Spider-Man”), Joel (Wagner Moura, “Narcos”), Jessie (Cailee Spaeny, “Priscilla”) and Sammy (Stephen McKinley Henderson, “Dune: Part One”).

These four are making their way through the now-war-torn U.S. to interview the President, played by Nick Offerman (“Parks and Recreation,” “The Last of Us”).

The U.S. is now in four factions in the Garland-directed film, with the Western Forces — Texas and California — moving in on D.C.

The journalists going from New York to D.C. can’t go the normal route because the interstate has been damaged. So, the group is told they have to go around through Pittsburgh and into West Virginia. Later on, you see a sign welcoming people to the Mountain State.

“Civil War” has received overall critical praise, with Matt Zoller Seitz for RogerEbert.com giving it a perfect score saying the film “is a furiously convincing and disturbing thing when you’re watching it.”

Other critics weren’t as nice; Justin Chang with The New Yorker said the plot “comes at us in a rush of details so clipped and vague that you can’t help but suspect that they’re largely irrelevant.”

A24, known for distributing and occasionally producing many indie, critical and awards-show darlings like “Midsommar,” “Moonlight” and “Everything Everywhere All at Once” to name a few, had a hand in “Civil War.”

In North America, according to studio estimates via the Associated Press , the Garland-directed film made $25.7 million in its opening weekend, beating “Hereditary” for the studio’s biggest debut. According to Entertainment Weekly , the movie’s global box office is at around $30 million.

Other films it beat that weekend included “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” ($15.5 million), “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire” ($5.8 million) and “Kung Fu Panda 4” ($5.5 million).

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