Box office analysis: Did Shazam! come out at the wrong time?

Shazam! finally came to a close at the domestic box office. As we look upon its numbers, did the movie come out at the right time?

As of July 25, the DCEU’s Shazam! finally came to a close at the box office. The film’s run lasted 112 days/16 weeks and amassed a total of $364.5 million. Long story short, this is actually the lowest performing DCEU title to date. Hence, maybe this film came out too soon.

Shazam! had a great start, with over $53 million in its opening weekend. David F. Sandberg’s superhero début took the number one spot for the first two weekends.

In weekend three, however, it fell to the number two spot as The Curse of La Larona claimed the top spot. This horror title had some hype going in and is part of The Conjuring universe – this particular universe of horror films has amassed quite the following and is simply more critically successful than the DCEU.

Come weekend number four and everyone knows who took the number one spot at the box office – Avengers: Endgame! That film’s arrival forced Shazam! down to number five and, although the DCEU installment was initially beating out Captain Marvel, Endgame‘s release allowed her to rise to number two that weekend.

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A few other films came and went, further stirring the pot. Then you have Pokémon Detective Pikachu which undoubtedly snatched the family audience from Shazam! while John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parebellum snagged some of the action audience.

Sure, Warner Bros. cannot account for those titles, but who would have guessed Captain Marvel would rise back up over Shazam!? Still, Warner Bros. can account for Avengers: Endgame, as anyone who is anyone was aware of the hype surrounding the film and how it was destined to join the billion dollar club.

Warner Bros.’ original hypothesis was probably to release their film around the spring break period and go into summer, pitching their superhero flick as something of a family film. Not a bad idea at all. That said, looking at the MCU dominance in the weeks that followed, perhaps they would have been better waiting until June or July, as it still may have allowed Shazam! to catch on with its core audience of kids and families during the summer break, long after Endgame and Captain Marvel had turned the box office upside down.

Another potentially successful possibility would have been a Christmas time release. Why not? After all, the film does have a Christmas setting.

Billy Batson has the potential to rake in many millions. One might have previously scoffed at such a statement but, cast your mind back to 2015, when equally lesser-known hero Ant-Man pulled in a total worldwide box office gross of over $500 million. Of course, it had the advantage of being part of the MCU but it wouldn’t have been too out-there to expect Shazam! to do the same.

All of this aside, Shazam! is still a success, regardless of these box office results we see on paper. It made over $140.3 million domestically and over $224 million internationally, for a worldwide total of $364.5 million. Domestically, it has a multiplier of 2.6 – better than Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice. Internationally, it has a multiplier of 2.2. Therefore, people were willing to see this movie again!

Moreover, it accomplished all of this on a production budget of $90 – $100 million – which made it the cheapest DCEU movie to date. With this cheap budget, it no doubt turned a profit -unlike Justice League, even though that film made roughly twice as much. Finally, no flop ever gets a sequel now, do they?

Do you think Warner Bros. released Shazam! at the wrong time of year? Would you liked to have seen it make more money? Let us know in the comments below!