DC’s superhero epic Shazam: Fury of the Gods has had a bleak start at the American box office.
The sequel to the well-liked 2019 family friend movie Shazam, the follow-up is proving far less popular in the US. Australian weekend box office numbers will be available on Monday.
It generated a modest $US11.7 million on its first two days (which includes Thursday previews and Friday opening day) with a project weekend total of $US30 million, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
That number is well-below the $US53 million opening Shazam racked up in 2019.
Its previews total – $US3.4 million – is the lowest of any DC Extended Universe movie, a tranche of films which also includes Wonder Woman and The Suicide Squad. Birds of Prey previously held the dubious record with $US4 million.
The $US30 million weekend box office was even lower than already dismal predictions of $US35 million to $US40 million. The result is one of the lowest ever opening weekends for the modern era of superhero movies.
Even the director, David F. Sandberg, weighed on to the disappointing box office, admitting he knew the movie wasn’t going to do well.
He responded to a fan on Reddit that “it’s not like it comes as a surprise, I saw where this was heading a long time ago”. Sandberg joked that he had made sure he would be “paid all my money upfront”, referencing common industry deals where filmmakers and actors forgo a portion of their upfront fees for a share of profits.
Sandberg deleted the post on Reddit but then followed up on the exchange on Twitter, clarifying to a fan that he knew the box office “tracking”, which follows sentiment and expected audience intentions, wasn’t looking good.
Shazam: Fury of the Gods stars Zachary Levi and Asher Angel as Billy Batson, a teenage boy who is given the power of gods, including super strength, speed and lasers shooting out of his hands.
When teen Billy (Asher) says “Shazam!”, he transformed into an adult superhero (Levi). In the sequel, Billy and his family are beset by the Daughters of Atlas, portrayed by Helen Mirren, Lucy Liu and Rachel Zegler, who want to claim their powers back from Billy.
The movie is one of the final releases of the DC Extended Universe, which will now be rebooted under the new studio management of James Gunn and Peter Safran.
Gunn and Safran were in November tapped to head up DC Comic’s movies and TV output, which has collectively been less focused and not as critically or commercially successful as rival Marvel Studios.
Gunn, the director of the Guardians of the Galaxy for Marvel, has revealed plans to restart the screen versions of many of DC Comics’ iconic characters such as Superman and Wonder Woman.
Gunn’s tenure started with cutting loose Gal Gadot, Henry Cavill and Dwayne Johnson from the characters of Wonder Woman, Superman and Black Adam respectively. He also announced a slate of new projects under what he has called “Chapter One” including a Superman origin story and a Green Lantern streaming series.
At the time of Gunn’s announcement in February, four movies within the existing DC Extended Universe were still to be released, the first of which was Shazam: Fury of the Gods, to be followed by The Flash, Blue Beetle and Aquaman 2.
The question remains open of how the actors and characters from those four films will fit into the future Gunn has sketched.
Gunn has said there is the potential for them to be transitioned into the now-named DC Universe. There were concerns that audiences wouldn’t turn out for these existing DC movies if they knew they would not be included in the future continuity.
At the Shazam: Fury of the Gods premiere on Tuesday, Levi said he was happy with how the movie turned out, and, “I hope it’s not my last”.