‘Shazam 2’ slides into $30 million soft box office

Warner Bros./New Line/DC’s Shazam!: Wrath of the Gods got off to a rocky start at the box office. After opening at $11.7 million in 4,071 theaters, the 2019 superhero sequel starring Zachary Levi is projected to hit $30 million in its opening weekend.

Unless there is a significant turnout of families during morning screenings this weekend, Shazam 2 will open below forecasts at a $35 million opening price. In its current form, the sequel should open 44% below the $53.5 million starting price that the first Shazam earned in April 2019.

While this film received strong reviews from critics with a 90% Rotten Tomatoes score and an A-C on CinemaScore, Shazam 2 didn’t fare as well with a mediocre 54% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes and a B+ on CinemaScore, the latter of which is the same as the ill-fated DC movie Black Adam last fall. While families can still watch the film as school spring break continues for the next three weeks, these results do not indicate significant interest from the general public, which could prove fatal for a film with films such as John Wick: The Chapter 4″, “Dungeons”. & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves” and “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” on the horizon.

Shazam 2 already presents significant competition for the average moviegoer compared to previous March releases. Paramount/Spyglass’s Scream VI is projected to make $18 million in its second weekend, down 60% from its $45 million weekend. With a combined two-weekend total of $76.5 million, this slasher movie should surpass last year’s Scream sometime next week.

MGM’s Creed III is in third place with an estimated $15.8 million, giving it roughly $125 million in North America after three weekends. That’s enough to surpass Creed II’s internal total of $115 million in winter 2018.