Warner Bros. Discovery’s overall strategy for their upcoming release slate has been a bit confusing. While they are showing a lot of trust in The Flash with an early release at CinemaCon, it doesn’t seem like they are giving the same attention to their other theatrical releases like March’s Shazam! Fury of the Gods. With barely any real marketing push, the film’s first box office projections are looking quite soft.
As it stands, projections believe the film will open anywhere between $35M to $40M. Projections have been tough during the pandemic as very few truly managed to shoot past even the most optimistic projections, but it’s a rough look for the Shazam! sequel if this film won’t even pull in the opening box office from the previous entry, which stood at $53M. Smaller budget productions like this don’t have to break any massive opening weekend records but it’s definitely a showcase that with three weeks to go, it’s not looking to be a strong addition.
There could be quite a few factors that add to the uncertainty about the film’s box office. Warner Bros. is generally trying to save money to make up for its loss, which was the main reason for the many questionable decisions we saw last year after the Discovery merger was finalized. Dwayne Johnson’s refusal to create synergy with Black Adam is also seemingly hurting the film’s chances of using that momentum and might not even come close to that film’s $67M opening weekend.
We also can’t forget that DC Studios is about to re-invent the entire DC Cinematic Universe line-up, which will likely further have visitors wonder if there’s much point to keep up with the recent releases. If they are going to reboot the projects, there’s no real point to rush to see the latest entry but with a good ranking, it could get some good legs to at least become profitable by the end of its run.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter, The Numbers (Shazam), The Numbers (Black Adam)
