'Shazam!' Pulls $5.9 Million in Opening Night Box Office, Tracking Toward $145 Million Worldwide Launch

The latest installment to the DC Extended Universe, Shazam!, was released last night and it has already made more money than expected. According to Deadline, the Zachary Levi led film took in $5.9 million in the United States and Canada during previews. If you add the paid Fandango sneak peaks, the film has already made $9.2 million domestically.

"Lots of late night business pushed Shazam! to higher figures last night from the early $4M+ we first spotted. Imax and premium large format drove 31% of Shazam!'s business last night. PostTrak was 83% positive with males turning up big," Deadline reports.

The site compared the movie's opening to the Marvel Cinematic Universe's Ant-Man, which makes sense considering they are the smaller, more light-hearted films in their respective franchises. Ant-Man made $6.4 million on its first night.

"Shazam! carries a net production cost of around $100M, and after its global launch, the current expectation is that it should fare quite well in the long run," Deadline added.

Tracking has indicated that Shazam! will open between $45 million and $50 million this weekend, domestically.

"While Shazam! isn't deep-deep DC universe, he arguably doesn't have the massive popularity of Superman who has been kept alive through movies and cartoons. While Superman has continually been kept alive by DC, Shazam goes in fits and starts," Deadline wrote.

Ultimately, the film is expected to fair well abroad.

"A lack of familiarity with the character abroad is not expected to have a major impact. Sources are seeing the international opening in the $100M range with some more aggressive figures up as high as $120M. All in a global blast-off between $145M-$170M," Deadline explained.

The movie is currenlty in direct competition with Paramount's Pet Sematary, which took home a respectable $2.3 million last night in 2,942 locations.

Currently, Shazam! is certified fresh on Rotten Tomatoes with an impressive 93% rating. Now it's a matter of how the general public will react upon its worldwide release. Comicbook.com's Brandon Davis praised the film in his spoiler-free review, saying Shazam! is unlike most of the superhero films that have been released in recent years.

Shazam! is now playing in theaters everywhere. Other upcoming DC films include Joker on October 10th, Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) on February 7, 2020, and Wonder Woman 1984 on June 5, 2020.

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