“Shazam! Fury of the Gods” felt the fury of the market when it debuted in theaters this weekend. The New Line Cinema and Warner Bros. superhero flick opened to a disappointing $30.5 million in more than 4,071 cinemas.
The “Shazam!” the sequel fell short of its modest expectations ($35 million) as well as the first film in the series ($53.5 million as of April 2019), and earned a spot in the very low launches of modern DC comic book films, between “Birds of Prey” ($33 million as of February 2020) and “The Suicide Squad” ($26.2 million as of August 2021), both rated R.
Directed by David F. Sandberg, “Shazam! Fury of the Gods” brought back Zachary Levi, Asher Angel, Jack Dylan Grazer, Adam Brody and Djimon Hounsou, and added Helen Mirren, Rachel Zegler and Lucy Liu. Critics, many of whom found the first film charming, were widely acclaimed. disappointed with this release.It currently holds a 53% critic score for Rotten Tomatoes.
Audiences were more positive about the sequel, giving it an overall B+ CinemaScore. Younger crowds were even more supportive.
‘Shazam! Fury of the Gods’ cost $125 million to produce, not including marketing and promotional costs. Warner Bros.’ DC store has undergone a major recalibration in recent months, with new bosses to James Gunn and Peter Safran paving the way for the DC Universe to officially begin with a new “Superman” in 2025 “Shazam! 2” was one of many remnants of the old regime, which includes “The Flash” to coming in June and a new “Aquaman” in December.
Second place went to “Scream IV” in its second weekend in theaters. The horror pic, distributed by Paramount, has dropped 61% since its debut and added $17.5 million, bringing its domestic total to $76 million.
In its third weekend, “Creed III” grossed another $15.3 million to land in third place. The film, directed by and starring Michael B. Jordan, has now grossed $127.7 million in North America.
Following its Oscar sweep last Sunday, A24 added more than 1,000 screens for an “Everything, Everything, All At Once” encore series, where it earned an additional $1.2 million. “The Whale,” for which Brendan Fraser won Best Actor, played on 509 screens and grossed $145,230.
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