Shazam 2 box office fails to live up to its budget
The initial box office numbers of Shazam 2 are in, and the movie's performance has been underwhelming. Although it came out in a competitive market, the film performed much lower than the first Shazam!. Fury of the Gods has also divided the critics as its Rotten Tomatoes score stands at 52% rotten.
As it stands, Shazam 2 is now the fifth lowest-rated DCEU movie as far as the critics are concerned. Commercially, it could turn out to be the third lowest-grossing DCEU film of all time, as the movie opened with disappointing numbers.
Shazam 2 might face a drop in its earnings with the incoming box office competitions
Recent reports suggested that Shazam! Fury of the Gods was only allotted a production budget of $100 million, similar to the first Shazam!. However, it hasn’t been fortunate enough with the results. As mentioned above, the critical rating is divisive. As per Box Office Mojo, Shazam 2 has opened with just $30.5 million at the domestic box office.
The movie total currently stands at $65.5 million in total. Moreover, considering the incoming competition, there is bound to be a drop in its earnings. Fury of the God’s opening is much lower than the original Shazam!’s $53 million. Thus, it’s unlikely that it will reach anywhere close to the original’s $366 million.
It’s also worth noting that Shazam 2’s opening is weaker than Morbius’ $39 million, which only went on to make $167 million in the post-pandemic market. So, Shazam! Fury of the Gods might find it tough to reach $200 million as it isn’t getting any help from China either ($4.4 million opening).
Wonder Woman 1984 ($169 million) and The Suicide Squad ($168 million) are the two lowest-grossing DCEU movies to date as both of them also got a simultaneous HBO Max release. However, if Fury of the Gods makes a similar profit, then the Shazam franchise would get rebooted.
Why Shazam 3 may not happen
Although James Gunn and Peter Safran haven’t commented on whether Zachary Levi and other actors will continue in their new DC Universe, director David F. Sandberg did mention that fans will get to see more Shazams if the second movie makes money. Since Shazam 2 may not be profitable even after getting a low budget compared to other Superhero movies, the third one could get canceled.
The Flash is about to turn the DCEU into James Gunn’s DCU. So far, only the likes of Batman and Superman will get recast, as fans will be getting Superman: Legacy and The Brave and the Bold. However, with Shazam! Fury of the Gods not impressing many, the Shazam Fam may not continue after this either. They would join the likes of Black Adam to get pushed out of the DCEU.
Furthermore, Shazam 2’s post-credits scenes will also become pointless like many other DC films so far. Shazam’s survival will only depend upon its second weekend’s performance, which is why fans of the franchise shouldn’t keep any high hopes.
Fury of the Gods is currently playing in theaters.
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Priya Majumdar