Warner Bros. and DC Films’ Shazam! may only be tracking around $40 to $50 million at the domestic box office, but the superhero comedy certainly got off to a healthy start with its one-night-only Fandango preview screenings this past weekend.
The film, which sees Zachary Levi starring as the titular hero – an adult superhero alter-ego of teenager Billy Batson (Asher Angel) – grossed $3.3 million from 1200 screens, putting it ahead of the last DCEU blockbuster Aquaman, which earned $2.9 million from its own previews. It also outperformed other hits such as How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World ($2.6 million) and Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle ($1.8 million)
Jason Momoa’s solo outing went on to become the highest-grossing DC movie ever with $1.147 billion. While it would seem unlikely that Shazam! could manage to top that feat (particularly with Avengers: Endgame opening three weeks later), Warner Bros. must be quietly confident that it has a hit on its hands, particularly as early reviews and word of mouth are overwhelmingly positive [read our reviews here and here].
SEE ALSO: Dwayne Johnson’s Black Adam won’t appear in any Shazam! sequels until after his own solo movie
We all have a superhero inside us, it just takes a bit of magic to bring it out. In Billy Batson’s (Asher Angel) case, by shouting out one word—SHAZAM!—this streetwise 14-year-old foster kid can turn into the adult Super Hero Shazam (Zachary Levi), courtesy of an ancient wizard. Still a kid at heart—inside a ripped, godlike body—Shazam revels in this adult version of himself by doing what any teen would do with superpowers: have fun with them! Can he fly? Does he have X-ray vision? Can he shoot lightning out of his hands? Can he skip his social studies test? Shazam sets out to test the limits of his abilities with the joyful recklessness of a child. But he’ll need to master these powers quickly in order to fight the deadly forces of evil controlled by Dr. Thaddeus Sivana (Mark Strong).
Shazam will see Zachary Levi starring as the titular superhero, with Asher Angel as his young alter-ego Billy Batson, Jack Dylan Grazer as Freddy Freeman, Ian Chen as Eugene Choi, Jovan Armand as Pedro Peña, Grace Fulton as Mary Marvel, Cooper Andrews as Victor Vasquez, Faithe Herman as Darla Dudley, Mark Strong as Dr. Thaddeus Sivana, Djimon Hounsou as the Wizard, Adam Brody as Freddie Freeman, Ross Butler as Eugene Choi, D. J. Cotrona as Pedro Pena, Meagan Good as Darla Dudley, and Michelle Borth as Mary Bromfield. The film is set for release on April 5th 2019.
Originally published March 25, 2019. Updated November 22, 2019.
