The magic word at the box office this weekend was "Shazam!" Warner Bros.` latest DC superhero adventure easily topped charts in North America, pocketing $53 million when it debuted in 4,217 venues. Buoyed by positive reviews, "Shazam!" arrived ahead of expectations, which anticipated a start around $40 million to $45 million. The film, made by Warner Bros.` New Line division, also earned $3 million in advanced screenings, bringing its domestic haul to $56 million. Overseas, "Shazam!" dominated with $102 million from 79 international markets for a global start to $158.6 million.
While "Shazam!`s" domestic opening weekend is on the lower side for a traditional comic-book movie, it was significantly less expensive to make compared to other films in the genre that are heavy on special effects. That means "Shazam!" doesn`t have to reach the same box office heights as other DC Comic entries like "Aquaman" and "Wonder Woman" to turn a profit. Warner Bros. and New Line spent $98 million to produce "Shazam!," proving that studios can crank out a solid superhero installment without breaking the bank.
‘Shazam!’ nets $53 million in opening weekend
googletag.cmd.push(function() googletag.defineSlot('/11440465/Zeebiz_Web/Zeebiz_AS_Inarticle_1_300x250', [300, 250], 'div-gpt-ad-AS-Inarticle-1').addService(googletag.pubads()); googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-AS-Inarticle-1'); ); Prior DC films like "Justice League" and "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice," on the other hand, cost upward of $300 million before taking marketing and distribution into count. Jeff Goldstein, Warner Bros. president of domestic distribution, said this weekend`s "thrilling result" was because "Shazam!" doesn`t take itself too seriously. Though it`s still in the superhero genre, it feels lighter in tone than the influx of comic-book titles in theaters. "It was about having fun," he said.
googletag.cmd.push(function() googletag.defineSlot('/11440465/Zeebiz_Web/Zeebiz_AS_Inarticle_2_300x250', [300, 250], 'div-gpt-ad-AS-Inarticle-2').addService(googletag.pubads()); googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-AS-Inarticle-2'); ); "It shows we`re making a variety of different movies that can all live in the same space." "Shazam!" -- described as "Big" meets "Superman" -- centers on Billy Baston (Asher Angel), a teenager who transforms into a superhero (Zachary Levi) when someone says the magic word. Both critics and fans praised the movie for its lighter take on the genre, compared to the apocalyptic storylines in comic-book adaptations. Moviegoers awarded with an A CinemaScore. Males accounted for 57 percent of opening weekend audiences, while 45 percent of crowds were under the age of 25.
"Spring suddenly got very competitive. I think this rose above the fray because it`s one of Stephen King`s most popular books and the filmmakers did a great job delivering the scares," Davies said. "They really paid respect to the original source material, but added some new twists." The final newcomer this weekend was "Best of Enemies," starring Taraji P. Henson and Sam Rockwell as a civil rights activist and a KKK leader forced to work together. It pulled in an underwhelming $4.5 million from 1,705 screens.
Astute Films fully financed the film, which was distributed by STXfilms. Older moviegoers aren`t generally a demographic that rushes out to see a movie on opening weekend, so the studio anticipates that word of mouth about the feel-good drama will grow in the coming weeks, leading to a long life in theaters.
A number of holdovers filled out North American box office charts. In third place, Disney`s re-imagining of "Dumbo" earned $18.2 million in its sophomore outing, marking a steep 60 percent drop from its debut. Directed by Tim Burton, the remake of Disney`s 1941 classic has surpassed $200 million globally, including $76 million in North America. Universal and Jordan Peele`s "Us," now in its third weekend of release, amassed another $13 million for a domestic haul of $152 million. The psychological thriller, starring Lupita Nyong`o and Winston Duke, hit $200 million in ticket sales worldwide.
Enjoying its first weekend in domestic theaters, the Big-meets-the-superhero-genre feature will electrify the top spot with a shocking $53 million. That shatters early expectations, which estimated a $40 million opening weekend. Combined with the advanced Fandango screenings in late March, that total currently stands at $56 million.
Also hitting theaters this weekend is Paramount's remake of Stephen King's Pet Sematary. Currently holding a 61% on Rotten Tomatoes, the horror film will inter the second box-office spot with $25 million from 3,585 domestic theaters. Not accounting for inflation, that's more than double the amount made during the first adaptation's initial weekend run in 1989.
Now in its second week, Disney's live-action Dumbo (directed by Tim Burton) is flapping its ears to an added $18 million domestically. That's a 60% drop since last weekend, when it nabbed the top spot with $45 million. Even so, it has soared past the $200 million mark globally, for a current total of $213.8 million.
Having passed the $1 billion mark at the global box office earlier in the week, Marvel Studios' Captain Marvel nabbed another $12.7 million domestically and $14.1 million overseas this weekend. In terms of total global ticket sales, Captain Marvel is now the ninth-highest-grossing comic book movie of all time.
It has the ninth-smallest drop for a superhero movie (comic book or otherwise) since Robocop dropped 26% in weekend three in 33 years. It was behind only Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (+15% in 2018), Wonder Woman (-29.5% in 2017), The Matrix (-20% in 1999), Blade (whose third weekend was Labor Day in 1998), The Crow (whose third weekend was Memorial Day in 1994), Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (-28% in 1991), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (-25% in 1990) and Robocop (-26% in 1987). It was a better third-weekend hold than Batman (-36% in 1989) and Aquaman (-40% in early 2019). Alas, not only did the fourth Avengers movie open with an unthinkable $357 million domestic debut, but Shazam! had proved just popular and leggy enough to take a hit from the competition. It ended with $140 million domestic.
Shazam really bounced back from a poor Friday performance. So much so that it almost match our prediction with an estimated $25.14 million over the weekend for a two-week total of $94.31 million. Internationally, the film is projected to earn $35.9 million on 23,752 screens in 79 markets to push its international total to $163.9 million. This means its worldwide total rose past $250 million after just two weeks of release. The film will have no trouble breaking even after a run like this, even with Avengers: Endgame looming large.More...Friday Estimates: Friday Results are More Little Than NeededApril 13th, 2019
According to Variety, some competitors are projecting the superhero film will gross $62.2 million in its opening weekend, which would mark the first wide release to debut above $50 million since Disney's 'Thor: Love and Thunder' bowed to $144 million in July.
Black Adam, starring Dwayne Johnson in the lead role, is doing roaring business at the box office, despite the mixed reviews. The film is looking to claim the top spot on domestic spots, ahead of the new release, Ticket To Paradise. The Dwayne Johnson film earned $26.8 million on the opening day (Rs 220 crore), including $7.6 million (Rs 62 crore) in Thursday previews. The DC Comics adaptation will screen in 4,402 locations in North America.
Shazam! stars Zachary Levi as the titular hero, the superpowered alter ego of the young Bill Batson, played by Asher Angel. The film opened in first place at the box office with $53 million for the weekend. Shazam! also earned an A CinemaScore, matching Wonder Woman for the best CinemaScore of all the DC Extended Universe movies. Shazam! has a 91% fresh Rotten Tomatoes rating. That's the second-highest of all the DC Extended Universe movies and a mere two percentage points behind Wonder Woman.
As expected, Black Adam easily took the top spot this weekend with $67 million, representing a personal best for the always likable Dwayne Johnson in a leading role. Compared to how the weekend was originally looking, this falls more in line with our original predictions from earlier this week. If we look at the entire DCEU, the number falls in the middle of other origin stories Aquaman ($67.8m opening, $335m domestic total) and Shazam! ($53.5m opening, $140.3m domestic total) while it is a far cry from titles such as Man of Steel ($116.6m opening, $291m domestic total), Batman v Superman ($166m opening, $330.3m domestic total), Suicide Squad ($133.6m opening, $325.1m domestic total), Wonder Woman ($103.2m opening, $412,5m domestic total) and even Justice League ($93.8m opening, $229m domestic total).
The good news is the film seems to be playing well with audiences who gave it a healthy 89% audience score with a B+ cinemascore. With no big releases until November 11 when Black Panther: Wakanda Forever releases (and is expected to have a massive opening) you can expect Black Adam to remain atop the box office until then. Of course, with a near $200 million production budget before marketing costs, the movie is going to have to make bank these next three weeks if it wants to even come close to breaking even. The good news is the film is off to a solid start internationally as well with nearly $70 million and that is before the film opens in China which historically propels films like these into profitability. But as I said in our update yesterday, this movie is being used as a new jumping off point for the DCEU (as Johnson said he saw it as the start of a new Phase 1) and even if this film loses money for the studio, it is setting up a series of films that should cover those losses. 2ff7e9595c
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