We’re a little over a month out from the release of Shazam!, the latest instalment in the DC Extended Universe, and according to projections from Box Office Pro, the Zachary Levi-headlined superhero movie is looking at a domestic opening weekend of around $48 million.
Should the figure prove accurate, that would be the lowest opening for any movie in the DCEU, although it’s certainly not a disaster scenario. Shazam! reportedly only cost between $80 and $90 million to make (that’s a fraction of the Justice League budget, which ranges from anywhere between $300 million to a ridiculous $650 million, and almost half Wonder Woman’s $150 million price tag), while Aquaman opened to just $67.9 million domestically but went on to amass $1.14 billion worldwide, making it the highest-grossing DC movie ever.
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It’s also worth noting that the marketing campaign for Shazam! has been fairly reserved so far, and so this estimate may well change over the coming weeks. Perhaps the long-awaited second trailer, confirmed by director David F. Sandberg to arrive this coming Monday, will help to build some excitement for the superhero action comedy.
Upload in progress… Trailer Monday. #SHAZAM pic.twitter.com/JV4uOvaICF
— David F. Sandberg (@ponysmasher) March 1, 2019
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.
