When new line/CCIt is Shazam: Fury of the Gods followed four weeks ago with a low projection of $35 million, it was shocking and not shocking to rival distributors. Shocking, because in a spring full of franchise masts, many of which are seeing national opening records, how does a DC property like Shazam! not follow the peloton? Not shocking in that – well, he’s a clumsy old man Shazam!
Now, while it’s possible for a movie to start low in its tracking projections and swell as the studio spends most of a still’s P&A in the last round before it opens, the outlook on Shazam! Fury of the gods hasn’t moved, and now the sequel directed by David F. Sandberg, produced by Warner Bros.. Newly installed Cohead DC Saffron Stonelook at a $30 million to begin in the U.S./Canada., up 44% from the $53.5 million opening of the first film of 2019.
Shazam 2‘s Friday (and previews) at $11.7M is 42% on Friday’s $20.3 million first pic + previews. Even if Shazam 2 boasts family matinees and builds to a $35-40 million opening (which no one expects), it’s still late from the start of the first picture in the United States. Realize that we live in a market where we’re used to seeing superhero sequels outperform the openings of their predecessors.
Audience diagnostics are disabled for Shazam: Fury of the Gods. The DC Captain Marvel received a B+ CinemaScore for the first title’s A and drew fewer 18-34 year olds than Chapter One, 56% to 64%. The public comes out first Shazam! were tougher than CinemaScore’s results at 79% positive, 59% definite recommendation – the sequel saw similar results at 78% positive and 64% recommendation. Men over 25 were the biggest quad for Shazam! in 2019 at 35% and a score of 82%; the second part saw a 40% share of guys over 25, with a lower rating of 77%. The rivals think that the scores of the first Shazam! weren’t good enough to warrant a sequel. Why did New Line make one? Because Shazam! made a profit $75 million after all accessories on a production cost of $100 million and worldwide marketing spend of $105 million.
Warners hasn’t really dropped the ball in marketing Shazam! Fury of the gods, trotting out the first trailer and cast when San Diego Comic-Con returned in-person last July. In fact, of those who have seen Shazam 2, 18% mentioned the theatrical trailer and 16% cited the YouTube trailer as the most influential marketing medium. Some sources tell me that the materials for Shazam! Fury of the gods were giddy, and that the conceit of “Everyone’s a Shazam” deflates from him being the all-powerful superhero.
However, that has always been the spirit of this B-level DC superhero, dating back to the first film. Also, you can’t fault the Warner distribution for doing their job: they protected Shazam 2, keep him away from Avatar: The Way of the Water at Christmas for access to Imax and PLF ticket formats this weekend.
Shazam’s inability to fly at the box office has a lot to do with the fact that there’s no appetite to see among DC’s fan base when it comes to this sequel. It’s not part of a connective tissue in the DC Universe, and it never has been, and that’s a problem that DC Bosses james gunn and Peter Safran seek to repair. They’ve been very public about showing off their new multiverse, and it’s never been certain that Shazam would definitely be part of their “Chapter One, Gods and Monsters”. Shazam’s exclusion took away the shine from what should be a crowd-pleasing standalone movie. Again, not a must for DC fans. In fact, one of the reasons why Shazam was developed at New Line because it was a lighter comedy project and an outlier compared to the gravity of Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash and Aquaman. While Gunn and Safran don’t just want to throw out the character played by Zachary Levi, the actor made it clear to Deadline’s Natalie Sitek at the sequel’s world premiere that if there’s a threequel, “It all comes down to what people want.”
By wrangling the entire DC Universe under a newly revised umbrella, something Gunn and Safran are convinced the previously designed by Walter Hamada the flash can do on June 16, Gunn exclaimed at DC’s January press day that “As everyone here probably knows, DC’s story is pretty screwed up. It was screwed.
Yes, Shazam is family owned, much like Marvel’s The ant Man. However, Marvel Studios increased the openings of this franchise to an all-time high of $106.1 million with Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, because they made the deeper universe character important in the context of the larger universe, making it a must-have for fans. One of the main drivers of this trio was the feature debut of new MCU villain Kang the Conqueror, played by Jonathan Majors, which was featured on the Disney+ series. Loki. In short, there is no reason why the public of The Batman And Spider-Man: No Coming Home go out of their way and hang out with Shazam in the second part. He just isn’t serious enough for them when it comes to the bigger gun.
Although all of the above may make sense with respect to Shazam! Fury of the gods‘ Lackluster opening, there was another inherent element that didn’t work, and that’s in the picture’s protagonist Billy Batson’s aging from a 12-year-old child in the 2019 film to a teenager in the second. part. The first one Shazam! charmed to be like a superhero version of the Tom Hanks classic Big, well, aging Shazam into adolescence isn’t quite as cute. No one was looking for a sequel to the superhero Big.
Should Shazam! Fury of the gods hitting his $85 million worldwide start on a production cost of $125 million, is he still enjoying it? The sequel’s marketing costs are on par with the first, if not less, as the new Warner Bros Discovery is all about promoting their IPs through their cost-effectively owned and operated TV and streaming tentacles. Those in the know tell me it will be quite hard to get Shazam! Fury of the gods in the dark.
Here are the box office top 10 as of Saturday morning:
1.) Shazam! Fury of the gods (NL) 4,071 theaters Fri $11.7M, 3 days $30 million/Week 1
2.) Cry VI (Per) 3,676 (+1) theaters, Fri $5.1M (-73%) 3 days $18M (-60%)/Total $76.5M/Week 2
3.) Creed III (RSU) 3,477 (-530) theaters Fri $4.3m (-42%), 3 days $15.8M (-42%)/Total $128.1M/Week 3
4.) 65 (Sony) 3,405 theaters, Fri $1.575M (-64%), 3 days $5.57 million (-55%)/Total $22.1M/Week 2
5.) Ant-man and the Wasp Quantumania (Dis) 2,650 (-455) theaters, Fri $1.175M (-30%) 3 days $4.7M (-33%), Total $206.4M/Week 5
6.) cocaine bear (UK) 2,687 (-517) theaters, Fri $1.09m (-38%), 3 days $3.79M (-39%)/Total $58.4M/Week 4
7.) jesus revolution (LG) 2,354 theaters (-165), Fri $956,000 (-33%) 3 days $3.4M (-33%)/Total $45.4M/Week 4
8.) Champions (Foc) 3,039 (+9) theaters, Fri $860,000 (-53%) 3 days $2.85 million (-45%)/Total $10.4M/Week 2
9.) Avatar: The Way of the Water (Dis) 1,190 theaters (-485), Fri $508,000 (-17%) 3 days $2 million (-23%)Total $678.1m/Week 14
ten.) Puss in Boots: Last Wish (Uni) 1,735 theaters (-81), Fri $420K (+19%) 3 days $1.8M (+3%), total of $182.9M/week 13