Box Office: ‘Shazam! Fury of the Gods’ Gets Down to Business With $11.7 Million Opening Day

If you’ve been anywhere near the internet in the last 48 hours, you will have seen that the first trailer for Greta Gerwig’s new Barbie film has dropped, and everyone is going absolutely wild for it. From the star studded cast to the bright colours and attention to detail – like the fact Margot Robbie’s foot stays in the iconic Barbie pose when she removes her heels – there is plenty that has gotten people talking about the new film ahead of its July release.

Dua Lipa has been announced as part of the extended cast of Barbie. The Greta Gerwig-directed movie is out on July 21 with Margot Robbie taking on the lead role and Ryan Gosling starring as Ken.

Barbie movie have been shared, and it is confirmed that Dua Lipa is part of the cast.The pop icon announced her role in the film with a post on Instagram earlier today (April 4). The image shared is part of the newly-released series of official posters, and depicts her as a mermaid version of Barbie.“This Barbie is a mermaid!!” She wrote as the caption.

Blue Beetle” film. Warner Bros. has revealed the first trailer for the upcoming comic book film, showing “Cobra Kai” star Xolo Maridueña taking flight as the superhero.Maridueña stars as Jaime Reyes, the third person to take up the mantle of the Blue Beetle in the DC comic books. In the trailer, when Jaime goes for a job interview, he’s handed a mysterious alien scarab inside a fast food container. He waits to open the container until he’s with his family, at which point the scarab attaches itself to Jaime’s body and transforms into a super suit — a surprising subversion of the classic comic book trope that the titular superhero has to hide his identity from his family and friends. In “Blue Beetle,” they know Jaime’s a superhero from the start.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Mariëtte Rissenbeek, who heads over the Berlin International Film Festival along with Carlo Chatrian, has decided to step down after next year’s edition. Rissenbeek’s contract expires in March 2024, and she has opted to not renew it, according to the German culture ministry, which is the main financier of the festival. German Culture Minister Claudia Roth said she regretted Rissenbeek’s decision, but praised her for prompting a “generational change” within the leadership of the cultural institution. Rissenbeek, an industry veteran who previously worked as managing director of promotion agency German Films, has reached retirement age in Germany (at 67). The executive will step down after the 74th edition of the festival which she’s due to prepare with Chatrian.

J. Kim Murphy Tommy Wiseau is back behind the camera again. The director and star of “The Room” has debuted the trailer for “Big Shark,” his first follow-up feature to his trademark 2003 cult melodrama. “Big Shark” follows three firefighters, Georgie, Patrick and Tim, as they work to save New Orleans from an attack by — you guessed it — a very big shark. While this first look at “Big Shark” is only now being debuted online, the trailer has already been playing for audiences at theatrical screenings of “The Room” over recent months. “Big Shark” will kick off its rollout on April 2 with a debut screening at Cinema 21 in Portland, Ore. Screenings will follow over the coming months, with a tentative schedule of engagements hosted by Prytania Theatres at Canal Place in New Orleans (April 28 and 29), the Balboa Theatre in San Francisco, Calif. (May 5 and 6), the Landmark Westwood in Los Angeles (June 2 and 3) and the Village East by Angelika in New York City (August 10, 11 and 12).

Shazam!: Fury of the Gods” was released by Warner Bros. and New Line and sunk to a $30.5 million box office opening, a big drop from the $53.5 million launch that the first “Shazam!” made four years ago. Levi, who is very interactive with his fans on Twitter, responded to some tweets sent his way about the struggles his sequel is facing and felt that the marketing campaign that Warner Bros.

Shazam! Fury Of The Gods.The DC sequel, which sees Zachary Levi return as the titular hero and also features Helen Mirren and Lucy Liu as villains, currently has a rotten critic score of 53 per cent on review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes. The film has, however, faired much better with audiences, with a current score of 87 per cent.Reacting to the ratings, Sandberg tweeted a thread on Monday (March 20), explaining that would be temporarily be leaving superhero films behind to instead focus on horror projects and other new ideas.“On Rotten Tomatoes I just got my lowest critic score and my highest audience score on the same film,” he tweeted alongside a shrugging emoji.“I wasn’t expecting a repeat of the first movie critically but I was still a little surprised because I think it’s a good film.

The marketing push for “Shazam! Fury of the Gods” has been an odd one, no doubt. The questions about the film’s future amid the soft reboot from new DC Studios co-CEOs, James Gunn and Peter Safran, dominated the discourse.

The gods are looking furious indeed.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter Shazam wasn’t the magic word at the weekend box office. “Shazam: Fury of the Gods” opened to No. 1 in North America, but the Warner Bros. and DC Comics sequel fell short of expectations with its disappointing $30.5 million debut from 4,071 theaters. Heading into the weekend, the film was expected to collect $35 million to $40 million, which already wasn’t all that spectacular since it cost north of $110 million to make and another $100 millions more to market. It’s a substantial drop from 2019’s “Shazam,” the first comic book installment starring Zachary Levi’s quirky hero, which opened to $53.5 million and ended its box office run with $140 million domestically and $366 million globally. It’s also one of the worst starts in the DC Cinematic Universe, other than pandemic-era releases like “Wonder Woman 1984” ($16.7 million) and “The Suicide Squad” ($26 million), which both opened simultaneously on HBO Max.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor SPOILER ALERT: This story contains spoilers for “Shazam! Fury of the Gods,” currently playing in theaters. Zachary Levi returns as Billy Baston/Shazam in “Shazam! Fury of the Gods.” In the DC superhero sequel, a trio of vindictive sorceresses called the Daughters of Atlas — led by Helen Mirren as Hespera, Lucy Liu as Kalypso and Rachel Zegler as Anthea — want to avenge their father and take back the power of the gods they believe was stolen from Shazam and his crew. David F. Sandberg directs and, in true superhero style, peppers easter eggs throughout the film for the most eagle-eyed superhero fans.

When New Line/DC’s Shazam: Fury of the Gods hit tracking four weeks ago with a low $35M projection, it was shocking and not shocking to rival distributors. Shocking, because in a spring full of franchise tentpoles, many of which are seeing record opening domestic highs, how can a DC property like Shazam! not keep up with the pack? Not shocking in that — well, it’s a goofy, old Shazam!

After that Superman fake-out in the first movie, director David F. Sandberg knew that if he was going to pull off another DC cameo in the sequel, it would have to be for real this time.And he pulled it off! Just as all hope seemed lost in the final act, Wonder Woman aka Diana Prince (Gal Gadot), appeared to save Shazam (Zachary Levi) and leave her favorite fanboy swooning.«We wanted to poke fun at the first movie where we had to obscure Superman’s face,» Sandberg told ET's Ash Crossan ahead of the film's release. «On this one, I actually didn't believe it was going to happen, because she was in the script from day one but… Gal couldn't be there [for some of the filming] so we had to do it with a stand in.

New Line’s DC sequel Shazam! Fury of the Gods got off the ground at 3 p.m. Thursday and posted $3.4M in previews at 3,400 theaters.

Jordan Moreau The “Fury of the Gods” may not be all that furious. Warner Bros. and DC’s “Shazam” sequel is taking flight with $3.4 million at the domestic box office in Thursday previews, behind the original movie’s preview haul in 2019. The sequel to Zachary Levi’s superhero movie will land with a smaller opening than its predecessor. The first “Shazam” movie had $5.9 million in Thursday previews before opening with $53.5 million in April 2019. It went on to gross $140 million domestically and $366 million globally. However, “Shazam: Fury of the Gods” is only expected to bring in $35 million to $40 million. Each of the “Shazam” movies cost $100 million to produce, but that’s a significant drop from the original.

DC superhero outing Shazam! Fury Of The Gods hits cinemas this month.Directed by David F. Sandberg (Lights Out), the sequel sees Billy Batson (Asher Angel) and his foster siblings transform into superheroes once again to take on a new threat in the Daughters of Atlas.Zachary Levi returns as the super-charged alter-ego of Billy, aka Shazam.

One of the things that made “Shazam!” so engaging, entertaining, and different was that it brought humor, an endearing irreverence, and an exploration and development of character that satisfied the initiated but also drew in the unfamiliar. It felt natural, full of vigor, and inspired.

When Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav installed the new leadership of James Gunn and Peter Safran at DC, heavy decisions were promptly made from the unplugging of Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman 3 to Henry Cavill losing his Superman cape.

“Shazam: Fury of Gods” is anticipated to overtake “Scream VI” and rule the box office this week, but the total gross won’t shatter any records.