LOS ANGELES, April 15 — Civil War, the hard-hitting film that imagines a dystopian near-future in the United States, topped the North American box office in its first weekend, according to estimates from industry watcher Exhibitor Relations.

The feature by British director Alex Garland stars Kirsten Dunst as a journalist travelling through a broken country, in which a three-term president battles secessionist forces from California and Texas.