Yahoo Movies Shazam 2 records one of the lowest DC box office debuts
Shazam! Fury of the Gods may just face the fury of Warner Bros. heads as the movie became one of the lowest debuts in the DC Cinematic Universe.
The Shazam! sequel opened to the top spot in the US, but it only grossed $30.5 million when it was expected to garner between $35 to $40 million. This is a significant drop from the first movie, which was released in 2019 and grossed $53.5 million in its opening weekend.
That movie ended up earning $140 million in the US and $366 million globally. It remains to be seen if Shazam 2 can pick up the pace and march toward those figures, but this is not a good start for the movie.
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In fact, it is one of the worst opening weekends in the DC Cinematic Universe since 2013's Man of Steel – apart from pandemic-era releases such as Wonder Woman 1984 and The Suicide Squad.
The movie hasn't done particularly well with critics, either, with Digital Spy calling it "a slog of a sequel." The movie's ending has also been described as confusing, while it remains to be seen how much of an impact the film will have on the future of DC.
Djimon Hounsou, who plays the last surviving member of the Council of Wizards, previously opened up about the challenges of making this sequel.
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"Given the first that we did, and coming to Fury of the Gods, [we had] so much invested. Emotionally, everybody was invested in that and in a way that we were so much more creative with it as well," Hounsou said.
"In particular, the emotion and the organic nature of having to convey to Zachary Levi, his character, that he's a true champion. That felt very organic and I felt – beyond the written words, I was very connected [to that]. So many of us are challenging in our regular life, to overcome those struggles on a daily basis. So that felt strong."
Shazam! Fury of the Gods has a cinema release date of March 17, 2023.
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