SHAZAM! The World's Mightiest Movie!

[Comic-Reader Lad]

A STUDY IN CONTRASTS: Let's take a look at how CBR and Newsarama are reporting the current box office projections for SHAZAM!

https://www.cbr.com/shazam-opening-weekend-box-office-tracking/

Shazam! on Track to Conquer the Box Office on Opening Weekend
Movies
by Narayan Liu – on Mar 14, 2019 in Movies, Movie News

Warner Bros.' upcoming film Shazam! is currently expected to enjoy a strong box office over its opening weekend.

Warner Bros.' latest DC Extended Universe film Shazam! is expected to earn $40 million domestically over its opening weekend.

At a glance, this number may seem inferior to the gross earnings of Aquaman in its opening weekend. However, it should be noted that there is a significant difference in budget between the two. Shazam! had a relatively humble production budget of $80 million, while Aquaman enjoyed a sizeable budget of approximately $160-$200 million. With that in mind, it appears that Shazam! will see a more profitable opening weekend than its DCEU predecessor.

https://www.newsarama.com/44306-shazam-tracking-for-40m+-domestic-opening-weekend.html

SHAZAM! Tracking for $40m+ Domestic Opening Weekend

Significantly behind the past 6 DC films.

By Chris Arrant, Editor March 14, 2019 08:55am ET

New Line Cinema's Shazam! is expected to take in $40 to $45 million domestically on its April 5 opening weekend, according to Deadline. The film will be opening concurrently with Paramount's Pet Semetary remake and STX's The Best of Enemies.

A $40-$45m domestic opening weekend would put it well behind the other recent DC films - Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice ($166m), Suicide Squad ($133.6m), Man of Steel ($116.6m), Wonder Woman ($103.2m), Justice League ($93.8m), and Aquaman ($67.8m).

Shazam!'s production project is reported to be $100m.

Interesting how both stories may be true, but there is a definite slant to each.

I just thought it was interesting in how people roll their eyes at the "fake news" manta, but the reality is that two stories can be true, but still have an agenda that makes them read very differently. As consumers, we do need to be aware of how information is being transmitted to us by the media.

Given how posters in this thread would want to see the movie succeed, we'd probably gravitate to the CBR story. Having said that, I do think the CBR story is more fair because the budget for Shazam has been reported to be at least half of Aquaman's and the opening weekend box office will be about half of Aquaman's 5-day Christmas open, so things line up sensibly. If Shazam can get to half Aquaman's total worldwide box office, I suspect everyone at Warners will be quite happy.

Remember, Shazam! is a New Line Cinema flick, not a Warner Bros. production. Therefore, the budgets (and by extension, the stakes) ARE lower. CBR highlighted this, but Newsarama really didn't address this important qualifier.

Also, everything I've read so far is that the production budget WAS less than $90 million

Oh, and to augment my thesis (and you know how I love to augment my thesis) that CBR was "more correct," here's the original Deadline story that Newsarama used to create their story:

https://deadline.com/2019/03/shazam-pet-sematary-projected-box-office-opening-1202575628/

‘Shazam!’ Looks To Strike Lightning With $45M Opening

New Line’s Shazam! we hear is set to fly to a $40M-$45M start when it opens on April 5, a healthy opening in the marketplace after Captain Marvel‘s $153.4M, Us‘ anticipated $40M+ start next Friday and Disney’s Dumbo on March 28 which has a wild range from $58M to $75M (from some studio analysts).

Keep in mind a few things about Shazam!: While some guys over 40 remember him from the 1970s TV series, and that nostalgia will work in his favor, the superhero isn’t largely known by millennials. Of course, the pic is the strongest with Men over 25 in First Choice on tracking. Nonetheless we hear the studio has high hopes that younger audiences will discover this David F. Sandberg-directed movie. Early previews have sparked plenty of positive convo on social and Warner Bros. as we announced yesterday is holding paid previews via Fandango on March 23. If the movie wasn’t good, believe me, the studio wouldn’t be holding paid previews. Shazam!, though it cost $100M before P&A reportedly, is not Aquaman, so the industry should go easy on expectations here for this DC superhero. In unaided awareness, the demo that studios typically buy TV ads off of, Shazam! is even at 21 in men under and over 25; females under 25 are at 17, which isn’t shabby.

So, Deadline is the source for the $100 million budget figure, but they really go out of their way to give proper context to the financials involved.

What do you think of the way CBR and Newsarama reported this story? Do you think Newsarama has a bias against the DCEU?

I really think that looking at Deadline's original story and then the story Newarama created from it, you really get a sense of an anti-DCEU (or at least anti-Shazam) agenda at Newarama.

[Beantownbrown]

Reviews are out today:

SHAZAM! Reviews Are In - Here's What Critics Are Saying About The Latest DC Comics Movie

[Gaastra]

Reviews--

[Gaastra]

[Gaastra]

[Gaastra]

[Gaastra]

They all loved it!

[Comic-Reader Lad]

So far, I've just watched Grace's non-spoiler review above, and I thought it was interesting that she not only mentioned "Big," which Zach Levi himself did, but also "Gremlins."

I just watched Gremlins on Blu-Ray the other day. It's the first time I've seen the movie since I saw it in theaters in 1984. I thought that movie was a great success in mixing comedy and "horror" elements, and it seems that Shazam will do the same. I'm glad because I was afraid that DC Films was trying too hard to back away from Zach Snyder that Shazam would have been too kiddie-fied for me.

Grace also said this movie was something like Steven Spielberg would have directed or Produced during his 1980s Amblin days, and to me that's a great thing -- a mix of wonder, enchantment, but enough of a "dark" tone that I was able to take it seriously and feel that the stakes were real.

"Dark" has become a bad buzzword in the wake of the Snyderverse, but ET, Gremlins, and Goonies, among other movies directed/presented by Spielberg in the 1980s had these elements and did it in a good way. The agents with the guns (not walkie-talkies) in ET made the kids' bicycle ride across the sky more thrilling. There HAS to be a realistic threat level.

If Shazam really does turn out to evoke 1980s Spielberg in some respect while keeping things modern, I think I'll like Shazam very much.

Even if he's NOT called Captain Marvel.

[Styles]

Man, those are some rave reviews. Could this be another surprise hit like Aquaman? Another billion-dollar movie?

[Gaastra]

Even if he's NOT called Captain Marvel.

Dc has no one to blame but themselves for that one when they sued captain marvel for ripping off superman. If only they knew.

[C_Miller]

I just got back from an early screening and it was everything. I don’t want to say too much as it doesn’t come out for real for two more weeks but it was everything I wanted it to be. So much joy and so much heart but not at the expense of stakes or intensity. Easily my favorite DCEU movie.

[AJBopp]

Man, those are some rave reviews. Could this be another surprise hit like Aquaman? Another billion-dollar movie?

Is it a surprise? It's looked like a great movie for months now. I've always expected it to do the best of any DC film.

[Comic-Reader Lad]

Man, those are some rave reviews. Could this be another surprise hit like Aquaman? Another billion-dollar movie?

I'd been super-cautious with both Aquaman and Captain Marvel in that I initially underestimated both movies' box office potential and it took awhile before I had confidence that they would hit a billion at the box office.

I'm going to do the exact same thing here (and hope to be wrong again) because so far early estimates for domestic box office are coming in at under $50 million for opening weekend and then Avengers Endgame comes 3 weeks later. Not to mention Dumbo.

As I said in my post at the top of this page, because of its smaller budget, Shazam really only needs to make half as much as Aquaman to be the same success profit-wise as Aquaman. I definitely think $550 million worldwide is easily achievable.

It's that other $550 million that I think will be harder. Of the 6 DCEU movies so far, 4 have done in the $400 million range internationally with Aquaman ($812mm) and BvS ($543mm) doing noticeably better.

If Shazam can do $400 million overseas and somehow get to $200 million domestically before Endgame opens, then I think it might just top out in the $600-650 million range, which would be just fine for this lower budgeted flick.

It would be funny if Shazam buries the live action Dumbo because this would be the 2nd time in recent months that a DCEU film has trounced a Disney offering.

I wouldn't be surprised that once the dust settles from the Fox buyout and consumers start to realize just how much of the movie market that Disney now controls that there might be a bit of a Disney-backlash in the future.

[Killerbee911]

Man, those are some rave reviews. Could this be another surprise hit like Aquaman? Another billion-dollar movie?

Nope. It has US, Dumbo, and Hellboy as real competition, Avenger Endgame would crush any hopes of a Billion but a Billion is a freakish number. It has 80 million(to 100 million) budget and should be an amazing success on a budget that low

[AJBopp]

My suspicion is that SHAZAM! will trounce Dumbo, but who knows?

I don't think people give a rat's ass about what studio distributes which movie. They just want to go see good movies.