Shazam!: Fury of the Gods Surprising Preview Night Box Office Revealed

Shazam!: Fury of the Gods opened with a soft preview night box office haul last night, taking in just $3.4 million on Thursday and lagging behind both the original Shazam! in 2019 and 2022’s Black Adam. That marks an inauspicious start for a crowded 2023 at the box office for DC, who are also bringing Blue Beetle,The Flash, and Aquaman: The Lost Kingdom to theaters this year. The original Shazam! brought home $5.9 million at preview nights before opening with $53.5 million and ultimately grossing $140 million at the North American box office.

Shazam!: Fury of the Gods is projected to bring in between $35 million and $40 million domestically this weekend, which is a big step down from Shazam! and likely a disappointment for Warner Bros., who keep hoping against hope that each new DC movie will be the one to turn things around.

The good news is that the Shazam! movies reportedly only cost around $100 million to produce, which is significantly less than movies like Justice League or Black Adam. A $35 million opening weekend could still pretty easily translate into a profitable $100 million movie, even if it’s not the hit they were hoping for.

Black Adam, driven by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and featuring a buzzy cameo by Henry Cavill’s Superman, earned $67 million in its opening frame ($7.6 million in previews) and went on to earn around $390 million globally — a bit more than the first Shazam! did. The movie reportedly cost $210 million to produce, though, and after the cost of promoting it, there has been a lot of debate over whether it broke even in theaters. Its strong performance on home video and digital has helped its overall reputation, though, which is a boost most DC films have enjoyed.

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.

The film stars Asher Angel and Zachary Levi as Billy Batson / Shazam!, Grace Fulton as Mary Bromfield, Adam Brody as Super Hero Freddy, Faithe Herman as Darla Dudley, Meagan Good as Super Hero Darla, Ian Chen as Eugene Choi, Ross Butler as Super Hero Eugene, Jovan Armand as Pedro Pena, D.J. Cotrona as Super Hero Pedro, Marta Milans as Rosa Vasquez, and Cooper Andrews as Victor Vasquez. New cast members also include Rachel Zegler as Anthea, Helen Mirren as Hespera, and Lucy Liu as Kalypso.

Directed by David F. Sandberg, Shazam! Fury of the Gods is in theaters now.