Thriller about 2nd US civil war is number one at box office

“If you're feeling triggered, you aren't alone." Thus Manohla Dargis, the NYT film critic, on Civil War, Alex Garland's biggest film to date, which opened worldwide at the weekend and went straight to the top at the US box office. It made nearly $26 million in three days in North America so will easily recoup its $50 million-odd budget when future takings and the rest of the world are factored in. It's about a civil war in the States in the very near future, so the milieu is familiar even if the team sheets aren't that plausible (California and Texas are on the same side). So who's triggered? If that's the same thing in cinema terms as feeling compelled to see it, the answer is mainly men, mainly of a "liberal" or "moderate" political persuasion, according to a PostTrak exit poll. There's plenty of violence, Dargis says, and if it feels more intense than usual bear in mind the subject matter has "long been workshopped in American political discourse and in mass culture". Trump's first criminal trial starts this week.

UK

15/04 – MPs and peers return to Parliament from Easter recess; Public Accounts Committee questions senior Home Office officials on UK/Rwanda partnership, 16/04 – Former Prime Minister Liz Truss’s book published; Monthly employment statistics released; Angela Rayner due to speak at Scottish Trades Union Congress, 17/04 – March Inflation figures released, 18/04 –  Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden speaks about Britain’s economic security at Chatham House; RUSI Air and Missile Defence conference held in London; 19/04 – Hearings continue in Post Office Ltd Horizon IT system inquiry; Brixton Academy holds first gig since deaths in crowd crush in 2022, 21/04 – London marathon

World

15/04 – Jury selection starts in Trump’s Stormy Daniels hush money trial; Boston Marathon; Our Ocean conference on climate issues facing world's oceans hosted in Greece, 16/04 – Suella Braverman and Viktor Orbán to speak at two-day National Conservatism conference in Brussels; IMF releases World Economic Outlook; German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on state visit to China; US Supreme Court hearing in January 6th case over obstruction of proceedings charge; Olympic flame lit at a ceremony in Olympia before starting its journey to Paris, 17/04 – G7 foreign ministers meet in Italy; Parliamentary elections in Croatia and Solomon Islands; United Nations Population Fund launches World Population Report; Abortion laws debate resumes in Arizona following state Supreme Court ruling, 18/04 – G20 finance ministers meet in US; Beijing international film festival; UN Security Council discusses Middle East; World Medical Association annual council meeting held in Seoul, 19/04 – Parliamentary elections begin in India; Iraqi Prime Minister, Mohammed Shia’ Al Sudani, addresses Atlantic Council in Washington, 20/04 – Togo holds parliamentary and regional elections; 21/04 – Democratic Republic of Congo holds Senate elections; Maldives holds parliamentary elections