Shazam! Fury of the Gods may have been no. 1 at the box office last weekend, but audiences appear to be far less enthusiastic about the franchise the second time around.
Opening to $2.3 million from 498 screens, the Warner Bros. and DC sequel trailed the opening weekend of the first instalment by 48 per cent – it bowed to $4.7 million in 2019, including previews.
Directed again by David F. Sandberg, Fury of the Gods continues the story of teenage Billy Batson (Asher Angel) who, who is transformed into his superhero alter ego, Shazam (Zachary Levi) after saying the magic words.
Worldwide, the sequel conjured $US65.5 million, with the US/Canada result $US30.5 million of the total. Projections for the global result had been at $US85 million,
Village Cinemas national programming manager Geoff Chard tells IF that the film opened short of expectations both here and in the US.
“The audience score on Rotten Tomatoes is actually quite high and people are enjoying the film, but there is definitely a hesitancy there for a significant portion of the potential audience. Perhaps it is partly super-hero fatigue, or the impending end/reboot of the current DCEU, I’m honestly not sure,” he says.
Majestic Cinemas CEO Kieren Dell agrees the sequel was softer than hoped.
“The buzz wasn’t quite there, so this was not unexpected. The good news is the holdovers like Scream and Creed, and even 65 and Champions, all held well, making for an overall solid result,” he says.
The weekend’s other key new release was Transmission Films’ Living. Set in 1953 London, the drama stars Bill Nighy as a humorless senior council bureaucrat in 1953 who receives a terminal cancer diagnosis and then decides to take time off work to experience life.
It opened at no. 5 with $464,828 from 189 screens, or $991,363 with previews. Chard considers that a strong result, but notes the film is definitely skewing upmarket and towards an older cinema-going audience.
“WOM on the film though is outstanding, so I’m confident of a long run with that film,” he says.
Debuting at no. 10 was Chinese horror suspense comedy, Full River Red, directed by Zhang Yimou. Distributed by Magnum, it garnered $140,962 from just 31 screens. By screen average, $4,547, it was the second best performer in the top 10 behind Fury of the Gods.
However, Chard was disappointed with the opening, given the film’s bumper Chinese box office. Having made more than $US654 million (4.5 billion yuan), it is the highest grossing film released this year worldwide, the highest grosser of Zhang’s career and the sixth highest-grossing box office entry of all time in China.
“Perhaps the delay in the Australian release since Chinese Lunar New Year dampened the demand,” Chard muses.
Overall Numero figures put the top 20 titles at $7.8 million, down 18 per cent on the previous weekend.
Of the holdovers, Paramount horror Scream VI dropped 46 per cent in its sophomore weekend, gathering $1.4 million to move to $5.1 million, while WB’s Creed III has earned has made $7.8 million so far, having collected $1 million in its third round.
Adam Driver sci-fi thriller 65 dropped 49 per cent in its second frame to to $604,958, advancing to $2.1 million for Sony.
After five weekends, Disney/Marvel’s Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania has run out of puff, gathering $278,073 to move to $15.2 million.
Basketball comedy Champions dipped 49 per cent to $240,284, moving to $968,711 for Universal.
Re-entering the top 10, after almost a full year in release, was Best Picture winner Everything Everywhere All At Once, which saw 994 per cent uplift to earn $222,336, bringing its gross for Roadshow to $6.9 million.
One of the key beneficiaries of the film’s Oscar boost was Melbourne’s Cinema Nova, where the it has never stopped screening since its release. Last weekend it was the theatre’s no. 1 title, with a 240 per cent increase on the prior frame.
“Sunday also coincided with the film becoming Cinema Nova’s second highest grossing film of all time in it’s 49th-straight week of release, ensuring the film will definitely screen for much longer than a full year,” CEO Kristian Connelly tells IF.
“The Daniels’ multiverse comedy would appear to have fresh legs with audiences agreeing that seeing it in-cinema with a receptive crowd ensures a vastly more enjoyable viewing experience than when seen at home.”
Four weekends in, Cocaine Bear has racked up $4 million for Universal after bringing in another $211,919.
After 14 weekends in release, Disney’s Avatar: The Way of Water has finally fallen out of the top 10. However, an extra $117,865 was enough to push the film ahead of Top: Gun Maverick to become the third highest grossing film ever released in Australia at $93.38 million to Maverick‘s $93.32 million.
In addition to Everything Everywhere All at Once, other Oscar-winning titles to receive a boost included Madman’s The Whale, which was up 177 per cent to earn $113,695, bringing it to $2.1 million after seven weekends.
While outside the top 20, Paramount’s Babylon was also up 352 per cent, with the extra $32,282 pushing the film over $4 million after nine weekends.
Aftersun and Tar each dipped only 20 per cent and 22 per cent nationally, with the former on $891,676 for Kismet after four weekends and the latter $2.4 million for Universal after eight.
Australian documentary Shackleton: The Greatest Story of Survival gathered $34,249 in its sophomore frame for Kismet, moving to $155,111.
This coming weekend looks promising for exhibitors with the release of John Wick 4, with Dell saying it “appears to have a lot of positive buzz about it!”
Connelly is also looking forward to the release of local title Of An Age, Goran Stolevski’s sophomore effort. The Nova saw strong advance screening results for the Melbourne-set queer romance, distributed by Roadshow, including a sold-out Q&A with Stolevski.