Shazam! Fury of the Gods plans $30 million debut

Shazam! Fury of the Gods comes in well short of the original film’s debut at just around $30 million

The first numbers have come in and they are pretty much in line with our predictions from Thursday Shazam! wrath of the gods is expected to win the weekend with around $30 million in box office receipts. That number is based on the $3.4 million the film made in Thursday’s previews and its unconfirmed (as of this writing) Friday total of $11 million. Some think the movie can get a bit higher as Saturday tends to be big for family outings to the theater and theater Shazam! is certainly one of the more family-friendly superheroes.

No matter where Shazam! wrath of the gods When it ends this weekend, it won’t be anywhere near the $53.5 million that the original opened with in April 2019. This is where I’d generally be singing the praises of a movie and saying I wish more people had seen it, but alas, I think the superhero movie fatigue has hit me pretty hard over the last year as this sequel was a bit of a disappointment to me. As it was with me Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, I chose this movie after loving the previous entry because it was just a really fun movie that didn’t take itself too seriously. This movie had some good jokes, the cast was great and really seemed to be having fun, but it just turned into another CGI monster superhero bunch of meh. It was obvious that this film was left over from the old DCEU and had just received a theatrical release to try to reclaim everything it could before the full reboot is about to happen. Of course, I’m just a man, and my opinion isn’t gospel (at least not yet!). For a very different take on the film, check out our own JimmyO’s 9/10 review here.

Despite solid reviews and an audience rating of 92% scream VI appears to be on a similar decline to its predecessor, down nearly 60% from the franchise’s best opening last week. That brings the second frame of this slasher to around $18.4 million with a running total of $76.9 million, which is only about $5 million short of last year’s domestic total of Scream and about $27 million from overtaking the franchise’s best take from the original 1996 film. I definitely thought this one would hold up a better second week, but it’s a pretty crowded marketplace right now and it’s getting in only get more crowded in the coming weeks.

Third place goes to Michael B. Jordan and his directorial debut Creed III which is currently eyeing a $17 million third week, while fourth place appears to be that produced by Sam Raimi 65 at a projected $5.3 million, down 57%. I’ll be honest, I expected this to fall in the 70% range, so losing just 57% is quite a win. Rounding out the top 5 is another disappointing (to me) superhero movie: Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania estimated at $5.3 million.

Did you see Shazam! wrath of the gods still? Do you think I’m being too harsh in my criticism of the film? Let us know in the comments, and don’t forget to check back tomorrow for a full rundown of this weekend’s box office numbers.