Tag: Shazam 2

‘John Wick 4’ Opens to an Impressive $137.5M Worldwide

It looks like people are all-in for John Wick: Chapter 4. The franchise continues to grow and has managed to wrap up its weekend with $73.5M. That would put it above the recent $70M expected opening from 3,855 theaters. It’s come pretty far from the first John Wick‘s opening of $14.4M and has now passed the record set by the previous Parabellum entry of $56.8M.

Internationally, the film did quite well as it passed all expected pre-release estimates and opened to $64M. As such, the film now proudly stands at a franchise’s best of a $137.5M global opening. Not many films can claim that their fourth entry managed to continue growing the franchise’s box office revenue with only nine managing to hold that title in the past 40 years.

Lionsgate might also be quite happy as this is the highest opening they’ve had since The Hunger Games opened to $102.6M back in November of 2015. So, it has been a while since they had such a big hit in theaters. The latest film entry did make up 62% of the weekend gross and it was slim picking for the rest. Shazam: Fury of the Gods did slightly better than the expected 70% drop but a 68% drop with a $30M opening isn’t something you want to see, families truly aren’t back in theaters yet.

Source: The Wrap, Deadline

March 26, 2023
‘John Wick 4’ Eyeing $70M+ Opening as ‘Shazam 2’ Faces Harsh Drop

We have another strong opening for a smaller budgeted project, as John Wick Chapter 4 is definitely heading for a strong $70M+ opening. It pulled in a strong $29.4M over Friday night including Thursday previews. As such, it is currently on track to $70.6M but strong word-of-mouth might even push it further. It seems that a strong push is through IMAX, PLF, and 4DX locations with over a third being from those types of theatrical experiences. It’s also showing a strong 93% PostTrak with a higher recommendation rate than even its predecessor John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum.

The target audience here remains men over 25, which made up around 48% of its viewership, highlighting their strong showing in theaters remains what is keeping the medium afloat and matches with previous record-breaking releases. Currently, the problem still remains with younger and family audiences that aren’t quite where they were pre-pandemic times, as they could’ve made a difference for more family-oriented offerings like Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and even the recently released Shazam: Fury of the Gods.

Speaking of, the Shazam sequel pulled in $2.35M on its second Friday, which is a strong 80% drop. As such, the film is expected to pull in $8.6M over the weekend. That is a 71% drop from its initial release which isn’t something a film wants with a $30M opening. To put that into perspective, that is a harsher drop than even Ant-Man 3, which at least had a $106M opening on its back to balance it out somewhat. At this rate, Shazam might not even pass $200M worldwide which it would need to break even on its production budget. FAmily-friendly superhero offerings might be suffering the most at the moment.

Source: Deadline, The Numbers

March 25, 2023
‘Shazam 2’ Fizzled Out at the Box Office with Low $30M Domestic Opening

The debates over the box office results of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania was quite all over the place, as the film faced a steep drop after its initial weekend. Yet, it still made a big splash that one expects from a Marvel Studios offering and fizzled out faster due to higher expectations on such projects and the fact that there’s always a Disney+ release around the corner, as taught in the past by how releases were handled.

Yet, it seems 2023 isn’t kind to superhero films in general as the latest DC film, Shazam! Fury of the Gods faced an even harsher box office release with one of the worst openings for a DC Extended Universe entry. With an $11.7M Friday, the film is projected to end at around $30M. That would put it quite a bit below the initially expected $35M to $40M. Many had believed the film had a chance to garner some momentum going into the weekend but it seems it has swiftly fizzled out.

What makes this hurt, even more, is that it’s quite a bit lower than 2019’s Shazam! which opened at $53.5M at the box office. It does have the same $100M price tag as the previous entry but with a B+ CinemaScore, the question will be how its legs perform. Many have used it as a way to get a feeling for where it’s going but its key audience families are still struggling to get back to theaters. It was a hope they might strengthen even Ant-Man‘s box office run as they had a much higher affinity with the film, but it seems they are still a market that has yet to find their way back.

Perhaps there’s a correlation between more family-friendly offerings and the recent drop in box office for animated releases. If you’re not a “must-watch” released in theaters, they simply won’t make the trip like with Puss in Boots: The Last Wish or even Minions: Rise of Gru last year. The box office is certainly doing better but not every target audience is quite where some might have hoped it would be. So, more adult and teen-driven releases like the recent successes of Scream VI and Creed III might be on the horizon.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

March 18, 2023
EXCLUSIVE: First Details on Rachel Zegler’s Character in ‘SHAZAM: FURY OF THE GODS’

Around three months ago, it was confirmed that West Side Story‘s Rachel Zegler has joined the upcoming Shazam sequel. Originally, there were theories that she might be part of Greek myth’s Three Sisters alongside Helen Mirren and Lucy Liu’s, who are playing Hespera and Kalypso, but her role remained under wraps until now. Still, there was no evidence to confirm this theory so far. Luckily, we got our hands on some information and can exclusively report that she will be playing a character called Anne and were able to get our hands on some details regarding her character.

SPOILER WARNING FOR SHAZAM! Fury of the Gods below!

Our sources have revealed that Zegler has filmed a scene, where she is referred to as Anne. It takes place at a school, where she is flirting with Jack Dylan Grazer‘s Freddy Freeman, indicating that she would play a love interest for Freddy. It casts some doubt that she might be one of the sisters after all. Yet, don’t let the “love interest” part fool you. We have also learned exclusively that a scene with Zegler was filmed on a rooftop that involved her wearing golden armor. It seems rather unlikely that a normal, unpowered schoolgirl would be wearing that on a rooftop.

So, there might be more to her background after all and she could be pretending to get closer to Freddy. Anne isn’t really a name that goes with Hespera and Kalypso too well, so we should expect Zegler will have an alternate character name as the youngest of the sisters. As for what she’s up to going to school and flirting with Freddy, time will tell. But here’s hoping she doesn’t break poor Freddy’s heart while she and her sisters mess with the Shazam!-fam in the upcoming sequel!

June 3, 2021
EXCLUSIVE: Djimon Hounsou Returning as the Wizard in ‘Shazam! Fury of the Gods’

That’s right, you read that headline correctly. Djimon Hounsou and his character, the ancient Wizard Shazam, will return in Shazam! Fury of the Gods. While I’m sure the Shazam-Fam will welcome the return, this does come as a bit of a shock based on the fact that the Wizard disintegrated to dust in front of our very eyes in the first film and his magical staff was broken. It will be interesting to see how the sequel works around all of that. While a flashback is certainly possible, I’d say that it also seems likely that those powerful but villainous sisters, Hespera and Kalypso (played by Helen Mirren and Lucy Liu), could have something to do with his resurrection. But it won’t be out of the goodness of their hearts.

Hounsou is no stranger to comic book properties, appearing in both Shazam! and Captain Marvel in 2019. Before that, he was the voice of King Ricou in Aquaman (2018), appeared as Korath in Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), and with Keanu Reeves in DC’s Constantine (2005). His voice work also includes a part in Amazon’s Invincible and a 2010 Black Panther animated series in which he played T’Challa. But his “nerd cred” goes back even further, with a part in Angelina Jolie’s game-based adventure film Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life in 2003, and all the way back to 1994, when he appeared as Horus in the sci-fi cult classic Stargate.

Shazam! Fury of the Gods stars Zachary Levi as the superhero, and Asher Angel as his teenaged alter ego Billy Batson who was gifted a major “glow up” along with all of the amazing powers of the Wizard Shazam with the help of his magical staff. The DC comics film sequel, which is on the verge of commencing filming in Georgia alongside Black Adam, is scheduled to hit theaters on June 2nd, 2023.

May 17, 2021
WarnerMedia No Longer Releasing Its Films Simultaneously in Theaters and HBO Max as of 2022

Warner Bros. surprised everyone when they decided that every major release of 2021 will be available simultaneously in cinemas and on their streaming service, HBO Max. We’ve seen others follow suit, such as Disney releasing their films on their new Disney+ Premier Access, like Black Widow. The pandemic is still an active problem that doesn’t have an end in sight for now. So, it is difficult to really pinpoint where everything is heading.

Luckily, Godzilla vs. Kong managed to defy expectations and nab 48M in the local Box Office. It was a sign that maybe things can go back to normal. Yet, it looks like WarnerMedia is not quite done with its streaming strategy, as CEO Jason Kilar revealed in an interview with Recode Media that they are switching it up next year:

I think it’s very fair to say that a big, you know, let’s say a big DC movie … it’s very fair to say that that would go exclusively to theaters first and then go to somewhere like an HBO Max after it’s in theaters.

As such, The Batman‘s upcoming 2022 release will head to theaters before releasing on the streaming platform unlike this year’s The Suicide Squad. It matches a recent announcement where the Regal theater chain made a deal for a 45-day exclusive showing before it is allowed to be streamed. It was never officially confirmed until now, as pointed out by recode. The decision makes sense and we might see it with many other films. It is common for digital releases to come out before they’re available physically. We might see Disney also echoed this strategy in the near future to promote Disney+ followed by many other publishers with streaming services.

Source: Recode Media via Vox, Deadline

April 8, 2021
‘Shazam! Fury of the Gods’ Production Update

A few weeks ago actress Meagan Good, who played Super Hero Darla in 2019’s Shazam!, appeared on the Carlos Watson show and told him “God willing and by the grace of God, Shazam 2 starts in May.” Now, this was not exactly an answer that instilled a huge amount of confidence that Shazam! Fury of the Gods, would begin filming in May after a significant delay, but it was certainly hopeful. I can now confirm that the Shazam! sequel is still on schedule to begin filming in Georgia at the end of May or early June.

Previously it had been reported that Shazam! Fury of the Gods would film in Toronto, ON, Canada this Spring, but this has apparently changed. At this time, it’s unclear whether or not the production will film entirely in Georgia or they will travel to Canada at some point to film as well. But I have heard that the Georgia part of production is prepping currently and is on course to begin filming at the end of May.

It is interesting to note that Dwayne Johnson’s Black Adam is also currently in pre-production in Georgia and should be filming at the same time. Whether or not the Shazam! production “powers that be” decided to move to Georgia for this reason (in order to make any potential cross overs between the films much easier to make happen and keep secret) is unclear, but it’s certainly a possibility!

Shazam! Fury of the Gods, starring Zachary Levi and directed by David F. Sandberg, is scheduled to be released June 2, 2023

Source: Twitter (Carlos Watson Show video)

Note: This is not my source, however a shout out to @pridenation on Twitter who also got the info a few days ago that Shazam! Fury of the Gods would be filming in Georgia, so kudos to them on getting the location!

February 24, 2021