Shazam Shazam! Box Office Thread | Early Predictions

So, the movie comes In at significantly less than 400 million and ends its run at the bottom of the heap on Memorial Day.
Not Good.
It was released in a crowded month, Shazam was competing against Captain Marvel, Dumbo, Avengers Endgame, Pet Semetary and Hellboy.

Shazam ($361 M) still managed to earn more than Dumbo ($348 M), Mary Poppins Returns ($349 M), Tomb Raider ($274 M) and Shazam had better Multiplier (Gross/ Budget) than Dwayne Johnson's Rampage, also note that Rampage earned only $101 M in US.

The other movies having low multipliers than Shazam (3.61).

Rampage (3.56)
Dumbo (2.04)
Mary Poppins Returns (2.68)
Tomb Raider (2.91)

So, Not bad.
 
Shazam did fine for a film that only cost between $80 to $100 million to produce. However beating Dumbo is no great feat. It's generally considered a flop though not a large one. Same with the Tomb Raider remake. I have no idea why they are continuing the franchise. Mary Poppins Returns did better than the numbers indicate considering it did not play in China which inflates the box office totals of so many films. Shazam made $43 million there.
 
Shazam did fine for a film that only cost between $80 to $100 million to produce. However beating Dumbo is no great feat. It's generally considered a flop though not a large one. Same with the Tomb Raider remake. I have no idea why they are continuing the franchise. Mary Poppins Returns did better than the numbers indicate considering it did not play in China which inflates the box office totals of so many films. Shazam made $43 million there.
It's not about beating Dumbo, its about doing decent business even when it had to compete in such a competitive month, imagine your movie (Shazam) which has no big stars and low marketing going against a very well received "must see" MCU movie (Captain Marvel), and other movie that has great star cast (Dumbo) from a well known director (Tim Burton), and then franchise that has had 21 successful movies and accumulated goodwill (Avengers: Endgame), to say nothing about movies that offered R-rated counter-programming, those movies took up screens, (Pet Sematary, Hellboy and "friendly fire" from WB's Curse of La Llorona)

The other thing is, Disney marketed hell out of Mary Poppins Returns (and Dumbo), Shazam's marketing was not very good.
 
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I don't understand why the comparisons are to these non CBM movies.

There have been several CBM that have been released in the past 7 years that have should be more equatable in terms of cost.

The Wolverine, Fantastic Four, Ant-Man, Logan, Venom, Deadpool, Deadpool 2
 
The whole comparison thing started as posters here think Shazam did "badly", to show it didn't, we need to compare with movies with similar release dates or comparable budgets. I look at movies from various genres as limiting myself to just comic book movies (because cbm market exploded in past 7 years) will give a wrong impression that Shazam performed badly, which is not the case here, though I admit it could have done better, so it unperformed a bit.

In my last post, I did mention how Captain Marvel released a month before got huge success, as it was considered as "must see" movie before watching Avengers Endgame, I also mentioned how Avengers Endgame affected Shazam's performance as most moviegoers gave priority to Endgame, so there's no use comparing those two MCU movies to Shazam (even though both MCU movies were released within same two month period) as we all know they performed exceedingly well.

Perhaps a comparison could be made to Ant-Man, but again Ant-Man had less competition and had better star cast and a successful brand "Marvel" behind it. Shazam was deemed as "Kiddy movie / parody movie" and not really seen as a "Superhero" movie by some which also contributed to it's lack luster performance, which was not the case with Ant-Man. I think Shazam should be evaluated as a regular movie first rather than as a "Superhero movie". (it didn't even have the DC Intro)

Disney remakes of animated movies are supposed be successful, but we have seen that not all such remakes are successful (Dumbo) Similarly, a movie wouldn't be successful just because it's a comic book movie, we know some cbm's are not making that much money (Fantastic Four, Hellboy.)

Which is why it's better to compare them as movies first, as at the end of the day. Studios will use the usual accounting practices to evaluate the movie's performance, whether it was able to earn back it's budget or not. How that movie compares to other movies in same genre will be secondary concern. Also, while comparing the movie with other movies from same genre, various other factors need to be taken into account, factors such as month of release, competition it faced, marketing budget, critical reception etc.

For example, Spider-Man : Into The Spider-verse earned $ 375 M on a $90 M budget, that's great if we consider it's performance as a regular movie, but if we compare it with other animated movies, like Big Hero 6 ($657 M) we might think differently, still as a movie it did well.

I compared Shazam's performance to movies like Dumbo, Hellboy as they were released around the same time and had to face same competition. In other case, the movies like Rampage, Tomb Raider, had comparable budget / release dates.

Also, if we need to compare with other similar movies, take a look at Power Rangers (Worldwide Gross : $142 M) and it had a budget of $100 M, Fantastic Four Worldwide Gross : ($168 M) with a budget of $120 M.

Which shows that Shazam did OK business.
 
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Do you think that is what WB was shooting for, OK business?
I already said the movie could have done better, but why WB thought it was a good idea to release Shazam when MCU was releasing it's most anticipated movie is a question that should be addressed to WB, not me.

It's a miracle that Shazam did as well as it did, irrespective of the fact what WB was shooting for.
 
The whole comparison thing started as posters here think Shazam did "badly", to show it didn't, we need to compare with movies with similar release dates or comparable budgets. I look at movies from various genres as limiting myself to just comic book movies (because cbm market exploded in past 7 years) will give a wrong impression that Shazam performed badly, which is not the case here, though I admit it could have done better, so it unperformed a bit.

In my last post, I did mention how Captain Marvel released a month before got huge success, as it was considered as "must see" movie before watching Avengers Endgame, I also mentioned how Avengers Endgame affected Shazam's performance as most moviegoers gave priority to Endgame, so there's no use comparing those two MCU movies to Shazam (even though both MCU movies were released within same two month period) as we all know they performed exceedingly well.

Perhaps a comparison could be made to Ant-Man, but again Ant-Man had less competition and had better star cast and a successful brand "Marvel" behind it. Shazam was deemed as "Kiddy movie / parody movie" and not really seen as a "Superhero" movie by some which also contributed to it's lack luster performance, which was not the case with Ant-Man. I think Shazam should be evaluated as a regular movie first rather than as a "Superhero movie". (it didn't even have the DC Intro)

Disney remakes of animated movies are supposed be successful, but we have seen that not all such remakes are successful (Dumbo) Similarly, a movie wouldn't be successful just because it's a comic book movie, we know some cbm's are not making that much money (Fantastic Four, Hellboy.)

Which is why it's better to compare them as movies first, as at the end of the day. Studios will use the usual accounting practices to evaluate the movie's performance, whether it was able to earn back it's budget or not. How that movie compares to other movies in same genre will be secondary concern. Also, while comparing the movie with other movies from same genre, various other factors need to be taken into account, factors such as month of release, competition it faced, marketing budget, critical reception etc.

For example, Spider-Man : Into The Spider-verse earned $ 375 M on a $90 M budget, that's great if we consider it's performance as a regular movie, but if we compare it with other animated movies, like Big Hero 6 ($657 M) we might think differently, still as a movie it did well.

I compared Shazam's performance to movies like Dumbo, Hellboy as they were released around the same time and had to face same competition. In other case, the movies like Rampage, Tomb Raider, had comparable budget / release dates.

Also, if we need to compare with other similar movies, take a look at Power Rangers (Worldwide Gross : $142 M) and it had a budget of $100 M, Fantastic Four Worldwide Gross : ($168 M) with a budget of $120 M.

Which shows that Shazam did OK business.

All the movies I listed have a comparable budget to Shazam $58M < $130M, all the movies except for FF grossed north of $400M. Granted, I do agree that none of those movies were stuck in between Billion dollar making similar movies, but it is what it is. It's still the lowest grossing movies for the DCEU and one of the lowest for the mainstream genre since 2012.

In terms of Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse, all you have to do is look at the comparable comic book animated movies such as the Lego Batman Movie that grossed $312M. I think something like Big Hero Six is less an animated movie and more of a Disney animated movie which is a different animal.

Further, not all Disney Live Action movies are equal. B&tB and the first Alice made over $1B. Cinderella only made $543.5. Pete's Dragon only made $143.7. Dumbo, which isn't necessarily as popular as say Cinderella or Beauty and the Beast, and with it's low ratings, it's not surprising it did less.

I already said the movie could have done better, but why WB thought it was a good idea to release Shazam when MCU was releasing it's most anticipated movie is a question that should be addressed to WB, not me.

It's a miracle that Shazam did as well as it did, irrespective of the fact what WB was shooting for.
If people here were saying that if Captain Marvel and Endgame weren't so close to it's release it would have easily made $400, then that still would be low in comparison to others in the genre and then the only excuse is the character itself/premise/story didn't hit with the GA.
 
So today in the category of “ok, well, that was a thing that happened,” Shazam booked $487k last weekend, a 64% increase over the prior frame. The gain is attributable to a nearly 20% increase in screens (to a still tiny 337) last Friday. I admit to a bit of confusion over why this little expansion happened (maybe there are still a few dollar theaters out there?) but hey, I’ll take it. So for the record, here’s where we are today (note that the last OS update was 5/22):

Domestic: $139,177,579 38.4%
+ Foreign: $223,400,000 61.6%
= Worldwide: $362,577,579
 
Wish they would update the Foreign overseas total though, hasn't shifted and updated since 22nd May !
 
So today in the category of “ok, well, that was a thing that happened,” Shazam booked $487k last weekend, a 64% increase over the prior frame. The gain is attributable to a nearly 20% increase in screens (to a still tiny 337) last Friday. I admit to a bit of confusion over why this little expansion happened (maybe there are still a few dollar theaters out there?) but hey, I’ll take it. So for the record, here’s where we are today (note that the last OS update was 5/22):

Domestic: $139,177,579 38.4%
+ Foreign: $223,400,000 61.6%
= Worldwide: $362,577,579

That's pretty cool. I'm certain dollar theaters helped as well as the fact that, despite some heavy competition, Shazam has apparently garnered some pretty positive WOM overall. Pretty much everyone I know who has seen it loves it.

Again, this is going to be a Batman Begins situation where the first one went over quietly well and then blew up in the sequel.
 
I think Shazam , more or less did well in terms of making a profit. Even if it wasnt blockbuster numbers WB wanted. I think Aquaman made them think all DC characters were ripe to be money makers. I think Aquaman had a lot more going for it than Shazam.
 
So, now it's at $367 M ? (As per Variety article for BA movie announcement, they must have added a few overseas collections to the total, I think that foreign market was not updated for sometime at Box Office Mojo website.)

Jaume Collet-Serra Eyed to Direct DC’s ‘Black Adam’ Starring Dwayne Johnson
It’s possible, we haven’t had an OS update in a week overall and that was clearly an estimate as most countries haven’t updated longer than that. Right next I’m rooting for it to make it to 140 domestic just because I like round numbers. But it lost 100+ screens yesterday so we’ll see if it’s got that much left.
 
Where the F are the updated Overseas $$$ on the box office totals, last f**king month on BOM, unbelievable ! Does anyone have an update please....
 
Where the F are the updated Overseas $$$ on the box office totals, last f**king month on BOM, unbelievable ! Does anyone have an update please....
At this point I doubt we get an OS update until after the film closes and final numbers get reported.

On the positive side, Mojo has it going over the $363 million WW mark as of yesterday.
 
I think Shazam , more or less did well in terms of making a profit. Even if it wasnt blockbuster numbers WB wanted. I think Aquaman made them think all DC characters were ripe to be money makers. I think Aquaman had a lot more going for it than Shazam.

I don’t think that’s true - there’s a reason this had a $90M budget and was released by New Line, not the parent company. Aquaman had a budget of $200M and was released by the parent company.

I think fans expected it to be a huge success after Aquaman. I imagine WB is relatively pleased. The box office on the lower end of expectations but still profitable and allowing them to develop new IP/a new franchise. Not to mention, well received.

It’s actually a more profitable version of Batman Begins - hence why WB is developing Shazam 2 and Black Adam.
 
I'd say it's done great business. It's met it's targets, I'm not sure what else it could do.
Not really. Decent business yes but far from great.

Luckily the movie made enough money to justify a sequel and was clearly beloved by most who saw it.

It's a minor disappointment from a box office perspective but on the whole it's still a success and I'm really hoping they fast track that sequel.

Kinda yes. It was a critical success but the boxoffice performance even though profitable in the end is disappointing nomatter how you look at it.

A lot of movies had their sequels put on hold or scrapped because they "only" did ~$350 mil at the boxoffice.
 
Not really. Decent business yes but far from great.



Kinda yes. It was a critical success but the boxoffice performance even though profitable in the end is disappointing nomatter how you look at it.

A lot of movies had their sequels put on hold or scrapped because they "only" did ~$350 mil at the boxoffice.

Also, considering the ok-ish profit, they have to think whether it has a considerable growth potential. Yet, if they want to make a bigger movie with more spectacle, they have to inject good money. Is this supposed growth worth it? They have a lot to think about.
 
Also, considering the ok-ish profit, they have to think whether it has a considerable growth potential. Yet, if they want to make a bigger movie with more spectacle, they have to inject good money. Is this supposed growth worth it? They have a lot to think about.
Well, I think if you’re WB, the question is, is there a better option at the moment? WW84 is already in the can, Aquaman 2 Is already scheduled, and The Batman is in development as is SS2 with Gunn at the helm. Of the big toys remaining, there’s Cyborg and Flash, both of which appear to have been killed short-term by JL and, of course, Superman. Does current management really want to take another big-budget whack at Superman, the one hero who has foiled the efforts of countless execs for the past 40 years?

On the other hand you have Shazam, a nice little success with, as you say, room to grow, and need to kind of do it now or not do it at all because kids grow up fast. Seems like a pretty easy call to me, but what do I know, I’m not a Hollywood exec...
 

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