‘Shazam! Fury of the Gods’ debuts with an underwhelming $30 million

‘Shazam! Fury of the Gods’ opened to the number one spot at the box office in North America, but accumulated numbers that fell far below expectations at $30 million.

Based on low Thursday and Friday numbers, it was predicted that the film would pull in around $35 million to $40 million in its first weekend. Which is significantly lower than the production budget of $125 million.

A relic of the past

One reason for the low numbers are the reviews. ‘Shazam! Fury of the Gods’ currently has 53 percent on Rotten Tomatoes from critics and a B+ on CinemaScore from fans.

For comparison, the original ‘Shazam!’ scored 90 percent on Rotten Tomatoes and an A on CinemaScore.

One reviewer on Rotten Tomatoes said the film is “predictable and overstuffed, but charming and fun.”

Another reason may be attributed to the fact that ‘Shazam 2′ is a relic of the old DC Studios before James Gunn was hired to be the co-CEO.

Last November, Gunn was recruited to completely revamp the DC cinematic universe, and he’s since made some drastic changes. This includes canceling films like ‘Wonder Woman 3′ and recasting roles like Superman.

At this point, ‘Shazam 2′ was already too far into development to make any major changes, and fans are quite eager to see how Gunn will transform the DC universe.

Gunn has already announced 10 new films and TV shows, none of which will air until 2025.

Superhero fatigue

‘Shazam 2′ is not the only superhero film to fall short of expectations. In February, ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’ was released to scathing reviews from both critics and fans alike, as did ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ and ‘Doctor Strange into the Multiverse of Madness’ last year.

For over a decade, both Marvel and DC have been releasing one superhero film after another. And while they dominated the box office for a long time, many are growing tired of the oversaturated genre.