Made for a more modest $100 million, and more family-friendly than most (though still PG-13), Warner Bros.’ “Shazam!” singlehandedly won the box office this weekend. Striking lightning with $53.4 million domestically and $158 million total worldwide, “Shazam!” bested the competition internationally too, but the numbers certainly aren’t as high as recent box office superhero properties. “Shazam!” put up “Green Lantern”-like numbers and came in 55th on Box Office Mojo’s list of the highest opening superhero films of all time. Films that opened to similar numbers include Fox’s “The Wolverine,” “Batman Forever” and “Superman Returns.” However, given its budget is half what “Green Lantern” cost, the prospects for “Shazam!” are not bleak, but you’d also be hard pressed to call the release an out-and-out grand slam hit either.
READ MORE: ‘Shazam!’ Is A Playful & Vibrant Star-Making Machine For Zachary Levi [Review]
In the always-important market of China, the movie grossed $30.9M which isn’t huge, but it is more than “Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” a property that hasn’t caught on in the Middle Kingdom. “Shazam!” is the lowest-grossing opening for a live-action superhero film since 2011’s “Green Lantern,” but it also greatly outperformed the critically-acclaimed animated “Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse” movie. All and all, it’s certainly a good opening considering its tracking, expectations, and budget, but it could have been better (for comparison, even all the early Marvel films opened to higher numbers). The telling weeks will tell the tale, but all superhero films need to be worried about the upcoming “Avengers: Endgame” which is going to suck out all the dollars out of the room and may prevent “Shazam!” from slowly reaching the worldwide numbers it’ll need to be considered a success.
Elsewhere in new releases, Paramount’s “Pet Sematary” remake opened to an incredibly healthy $25 million, but STX’s racial strife drama “The Best Of Enemies” failed to launch with just $4.5 million from 1,700 theaters.
Released on 265 screens, Emilio Estevez’s “The Public,” could only muster an extremely pallid $1,054 per screen average, Amazon’s “Peterloo” made $30,427 from three screens, “Storm Boy” took in an embarrassing $835.00 from 56 screens and A24’s Claire Denis-directed sci-fi film “High Life” starring Robert Pattinson won the limited release frame with a $25,007 PSA from 4 screens.
Meanwhile, “Dumbo” dropped -60% in week two, unusual for a family film and at this rate, it may only limp over the $100 million mark domestically; not a huge win for Disney. Jordan Peele’s horror “Us” continues to do well, has cracked $200 million worldwide and may even eventually hit $200 million domestic, but “Pet Sematary” did steal a lot of its horror thunder this weekend and admittedly, it’s week to week hold isn’t as strong as his previous film’s stickiness was.
Marvel’s “Captain Marvel” continues to put up great numbers. It’s cracked $1 billion, heading to $400 million domestic and could land around $750 million worldwide after all is said and done if ‘Endgame’ doesn’t steal all its thunder. “Captain Marvel” should be regarded as an unqualified Marvel box office success. Five weeks in, it’s already outgrossed the entire international run of “Black Panther” and currently stands as the sixth highest grossing Marvel film internationally behind “Captain America: Civil War.” Worldwide, it’s the seventh highest grossing Marvel film of all time, and it should be noted its hold it still strong, only -38% this weekend, the best of any major release.
The rest of the box office remains unmentionable mainly, but some highlights include: “How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World” crossing $500 million worldwide; Harmony Korine’s “The Beach Bum,” absolutely tanking in week two with a massive -72% drop and “Tyler Perry’s A Madea Family Funeral” hitting $72 million domestic.
1. Shazam! — WB— $53,450,000
2. Pet Sematary — Par. — $25,000,000
3. Dumbo — BV — $18,224,000 ($76,271,489)
4. Us — Uni. — $13,813,000 ($152,395,995)
5. Captain Marvel — BV — $12,682,000 ($374,133,563)
6. The Best of Enemies — STX— $4,500,000
7. Five Feet Apart — LGF — $3,700,000 ($41,591,252)
8. Unplanned — PFR — $3,200,000 ($12,467,510)
9. Wonder Park — Par. — $2,040,000 ($41,980,513)
10. How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World — Uni. —$1,985,000 ($156,692,245)