So Shazam 2 opened up this past weekend and… it didn’t do so well! Now a lot of people were expecting Shazam 2 to have a weak opening, especially after what happened with Black Adam but I don’t think anyone expected this. According to reports, it looks like Shazam 2 opened to just $30 million domestically, which is much lower than the opening for the first movie.
Now a lot of people have a lot of theories as to why this is the case. People are guessing everything from superhero movie fatigue to just the overall poor quality of the film. I saw both Shazam 1 and 2 for the first time this week. After watching I can say that Shazam 2 is NOT a lower-quality film than the first. Neither movie is remarkable. That said, it’s not like the bar was really set that high for these films with Shazam 1. Let me tell you the real reason why this movie didn’t do well at the box office.
Fans are dismissing all non-essential DC films. Now that DC Studios has partially announced their slate of films for the future it’s seemingly clear that fans only want to watch the fans that essential. Fans have proven that they will watch even the worst of films if the movies themselves are considered required. Suicide Squad 1 and Birds of Prey are prime examples. Each movie has a bigger box office despite not being all that well-received critically.
The DC Studios slate has made it clear that Shazam is not a required film. The company is focusing its praise, attention, and guerilla marketing on The Flash. The company allowed Tom Cruise to watch the movie and his reaction is helping build excitement. DC is also planning to screen the movie at Cinemacon so that reporters can gush over the film months before public release. DC did not do any of these things to help solidify Shazam’s box office. After a poor showing, it’s leaving fans wondering whether this iteration of the character will continue in the new DCU.
I 100% believe we will see Shazam someday in the future but it may not be for a while and it may not be with this same cast.
