Shazam: Fury of the Gods debuted at number one in North America, the Warner Bros. and DC Comics sequel failed to meet expectations with a lackluster $30.5 million opening from 4,071 theaters. The film was projected to earn between $35 million to $40 million over the weekend, which was already unimpressive considering its production budget of over $110 million and marketing costs of $100 million.
This is a significant decline from the first comic book installment of “Shazam” in 2019, which starred Zachary Levi and opened to $53.5 million and grossed $140 million domestically and $366 million globally. The sequel also marks one of the weakest starts in the DC Cinematic Universe, excluding pandemic-era releases such as “Wonder Woman 1984” ($16.7 million) and “The Suicide Squad” ($26 million), which were both released simultaneously on HBO Max.
“Shazam 2” had a lackluster global start, earning only $65.5 million after adding $35 million from 77 international markets. Shawn Robbins, chief analyst at BoxOffice Pro, says that the film’s soft start is due to the difficulty of living up to the performances of its predecessor without an event-level hook.
Additionally, reviews and word-of-mouth for “Shazam: Fury of the Gods” may not help its performance in the coming weeks. It received a “B+” CinemaScore, down from the first film’s “A” grade, and holds a 53% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, which is a significant decline from the original’s 90% average. The film also faces the challenge of being the first to be released since the big reset at DC, which sets the superhero universe on a brand new direction.
This creative shakeup, coupled with diminishing returns on DC sequels in recent years, makes the franchise feel even more fragmented to audiences at present. Comic book tentpoles were once untouchable at the box office, but “Shazam 2” and other subpar-rated adventures such as “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” are revealing cracks in their performance. Despite “Ant Man 3” having an impressive $106 million opening in February, it has crumbled in subsequent weeks and is likely to be the lowest-grossing installment in the trilogy, while “Black Adam” starring Dwayne Johnson also underperformed, grossing $392 million worldwide on its $200 million-plus budget.
While superhero films like “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” and “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” are expected to perform well at the box office, the lackluster performance of “Shazam 2” and “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” suggests that studios can no longer rely on comic book adaptations alone to earn half a billion dollars or more worldwide.
According to David A. Gross of Franchise Entertainment Research, these films failed to bring anything new or exciting to their respective franchises. Meanwhile, “Scream VI” landed in second place, “Creed III” took third, “65” came in fourth, and “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” rounded out the top five.
Source: Variety
