Shazam! Fury of the Gods' Opening Weekend: How Did it Do?

The numbers are in for Shazam! Fury of the Gods' opening weekend--and as it happens the film's box office gross is below even the subdued earlier expectations. The movie has taken in a mere $30.5 million globally domestically, with the global take $65 million, and the reaction suggesting that (in contrast with, for example, Avatar 2) a not-quite-what-was-hoped-for opening weekend will not be redeemed by strong legs over the coming weeks.

In delivering the news Variety reports that the film's production budget was $110 million+, and the promotional budget (not very surprisingly given the tendency of the latter to match the former) another $100 million+, indicating over $210 million has been sunk into the movie. The result is that to make that back in its theatrical run the movie might have to take in well over $400 million, and likely more than $500 million--considerably more than the original Shazam.

By contrast the sequel seems likely to make a good deal less in the wake of the opening weekend's numbers--in the absence of better legs or international responsiveness relative to what it got at home than its predecessor, finishing up under $80 million domestically, and perhaps not even making $200 million globally.

Even allowing for the studio's having laid out less than the full sum that went into making and marketing the picture, and there being revenue besides the box office gross, Shazam 2 looks a long way from breaking even, never mind success by any other measure. Indeed, its numbers can make it seem as if Ant-Man 3 did not do so badly by comparison--though in considering any such possibility one has to remember that movie may have cost twice as much to make and market.* Additionally, where Shazam 2 can seem a matter of Warner Bros. (to use the terminology of television rather than film) "burning off" the last "episodes" of its DC Universe "show" prior to the much-ballyhooed James Gunn-led overhaul of its management of the franchise Ant-Man 3 was to be the start of Marvel's Phase Five, which Disney/Marvel desperately need to go very well after the disasters of the last three years (the pandemic's battering of the movie business generally, Marvel Phase Four's underperformance, the losses amassed in the foolish splurging on streaming, etc., etc.).

The result is that these two releases, which came just a month apart, testify to crisis in both of the great comic book film adaptation universes--and in the larger industry that has become so dependent on them.

* This weekend Ant-Man 3 took in about $4.1 million (another more than 40 percent drop) and seems to me still on track to finish up with about $220 million or less.