Shazam! Fury of the Gods Debuts at Top of UK Box Office

Shazam: Fury of the Gods is flying right along in the United Kingdom. The DC movie opened at the top of the box office across the pond. In that territory and Ireland, Shazam! Fury of the Gods has been able to bring home $2.9 million. Creed III is running up those stairs alongside the DC Studios sequel with a respectable $1.2 million this week. It's a nice win for Zachary Levi's movie in a week where it's performance in other arenas had fans considering if the genre was wavering with casual movie-goers. 

As other critics have pointed out, it may not be the death of superhero movies like some opined, but rather a lack of big marquee names at the head of these projects. But, for now, there's something for the filmmakers to hang their hats on as they look toward the future for DC Studios. Whether or not that includes Shazam in some capacity, fans are just going to have to stick around and find out.

Balancing The Reception To Shazam Amid All This Change

As the movie has reached the massed, a lot has been made of the gulf between the critical reception and the fans' take on the DC sequel. While reviews have not been kind to Shazam! Fury of the Gods, the audience score is still holding strong up there. This has become basically the standard operating procedure at the box office in the pandemic era. If it's a superhero movie, expect a low critics score on Rotten Tomatoes and a very high audience score. But, Rachel Zegler called out the negativity surrounding the film on Twitter.

"Our film is actually really good! but mostly i just absolutely loved making it and the people i met whilst doing so :) go see it! give it a chance. we have an 85% audience score for a reason," Zegler said on social media. "some people out there and just being… senselessly mean. and it's unnecessary. and i know, i know, 'if you can't handle the heat…' and all that nonsense, and you're right. but our film is actually very good. it's just cool to hate on fun nowadays. that's okay. we're good."

Shazam! Fury of the Gods has a fresh synopsis: "In Shazam! Fury of the Gods, when Billy Batson and his foster siblings, who transform into superheroes by saying "Shazam!", are forced to get back into action and fight the Daughters of Atlas, they must stop them from using a weapon that could destroy the world in which they must travel in order to make peace with the Gods because of Billy taking their powers for granted."

Are you surprised by the latest Shazam news? Let us know down in the comments!