With a cost of $125 million, "Shazam 2" was released at the global box office, and Warner DC lost money to doubt life

In 2023, the first epic box office film will be released, this time falling on the head of "Thunder Shazam 2".

Although the film won the North American box office championship in the 11th week at the opening box office, this result will still make Warner Bros. Pictures lose its blood.

North American box office report: "Shazam 2" won the championship in a slump, and "Instantaneous Universe" almost entered the list

The North American box office list in week 11 is fresh, and there are many new films this week, but only one "Shazam 2" has been released on a large scale, and the rest of the films are limited releases, with box office ranging from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Among them, including "Manjiang Red" directed by Zhang Yimou and starring Yi Yangqianxi and Shen Teng, the box office of the first week of North America has not yet been counted.

Let's first explore the old films:

"Ant-Man 3" in the fifth week of its release once again entered the top five with a box office score of 4.07 million US dollars, and the superhero movie independently produced and distributed by Marvel under Disney Pictures finally exceeded 200 million US dollars at the North American box office.

That's $180 million from the original "Ant-Man" and $216 million from the 2018 sequel "Ant-Man and the Wasp."

But "Ant-Man 3" grossed only $462 million worldwide, significantly lower than the $519 million of the first film and $622 million of "Ant-Man 2", making it the lowest-grossing film in the series.

In fourth place is "Escape from the Cretace" produced by Sony Columbia Pictures, which again earned $5.8 million in its second week of release, down 54% from its premiere.

This sci-fi monster movie starring Adam Driver has a total box office of $22.42 million in North America, which is just a drop in the bucket considering the budget cost of $45 million.

The film tells the story of Adam Driver played by a spaceship pilot trapped in the Cretaceous period 65 million years ago, he and a girl survive in the wilderness under the mouth of dinosaurs.

Whether "Escape from the Cretaceous" can recover some losses depends on Chinese mainland box office results after its release on March 31.

The boxing sports movie "Quidi 3" produced and distributed by United States ranked third with a box office revenue of $15.37 million, although it fell by 44% in the third week, but the film's North American box office performance is still very bright.

"Quidi 3" still surpassed the first two at the box office without Stallone, and as of Sunday, the North American box office had exceeded $125 million, becoming the highest-grossing film in the "Rocky" and "Quidi" series.

Director and starring Michael B. Jordan said last week that in the next 3 to 5 years, he will build a "Quidi Cinematic Universe" around the character of Quidi, including series of movies, American dramas, stage plays and animated series.

Michael S. B. Jordan is better than the blue, and can completely succeed Stallone.

Paramount's thriller "Scream 6" plunged 61% at the box office in its second week, falling to second place with a box office of $17.5 million, and a North American box office of $76.02 million two weeks after its release.

The global box office has exceeded 116 million US dollars, and the budget cost of the film is only 35 million US dollars, becoming the second horror film to hit the box office after "Meghan".

It is worth mentioning that affected by the Oscar awards season, "Instantaneous Universe" starring new actress Michelle Yeoh and Guan Jiwei was released on the 52nd weekend, expanded to 1633 theaters, and received 1.24 million US dollars, almost entering the top ten of the list.

"Instantaneous Universe", ranked 11th, has a box office of 75.58 million US dollars in North America and 112 million US dollars at the global box office, which can be described as a double harvest at the word-of-mouth box office.

The only new film, such as the thunderous "Thunder Shazam! Wrath of the Gods North America has finally begun.

The superhero sequel film was released in 4,071 studios and earned $30.5 million in three days in the first weekend, less than expected to win the championship.

The opening box office of the first "Shazam" in 2019 was $53.5 million, and finally it hit $140 million in North America, $366 million worldwide, and considered streaming revenue as high as $70 million, Warner executives finally decided to develop a sequel.

Shazam 2 is down 44% from its predecessor premiere, and it's one of the worst openings in the Warner DC Cinematic Universe, along with the opening of Wonder Woman 1984 ($16.7 million) and Task Force X ($26 million).

But the latter two movies were released during the epidemic, when the HBO streaming platform was synchronized, and if you compare them alone, they should be the lowest-grossing movies in the DC Cinematic Universe.

With a cost of $125 million, "Shazam 2" was released at the global box office, and Warner DC lost money

In addition, the film was also abandoned at the international box office, with 77 countries and regions released simultaneously, and the overseas box office increased by $35 million.

So far, the first week of "Shazam 2" was released at the global box office, with a start of only $65.5 million, compared to the budget cost, Warner DC will lose money this time.

"Shazam 2" cost $125 million to produce, $25 million more than the first one, and the global publicity marketing expenditure was $100 million, which means that the global box office must reach at least $600 million to return the cost.

And now with such poor results in the first week, how can this be good?

In the past six months, Warner Bros. Pictures has invested in three blockbusters in a row.

"Black Adam" starring Dwayne Johnson has a budget cost of $200 million, which opened globally in October last year, and the final box office only collected $392 million, and Warner DC lost $70 million.

"Magic Mike 3: The Last Dance" starring Channing Tatum has a budget cost of $60 million, a global result of only $55.45 million, and an estimated loss of $20 million.

This time, "Shazam 2" starring Zachary Levy has a budget cost of $125 million, and the final global box office may be frozen at $150 million.

Then, together with the publicity fee, this will bring Warner DC a huge loss of more than $150 million, and this level of loss is estimated that Warner DC will doubt life.

"Shazam 2" global word-of-mouth ban, Keanu Reeves and Donnie Yen are eyeing it, leaving it with little time

After the large-scale release of "Shazam 2", the global word-of-mouth ban was lifted:

IMDB scored 6.7 points from more than 12,000 people, down slightly from 7.0 points in the previous game;

Douban's reputation is the same as the previous work, and both movies have a score of 6.2 points;

CinemaScore received a "B+" rating, lower than the first "A" rating;

MTC media rating 46 points, 9 positive, 31 equal, 6 negative;

On Rotten Tomatoes, it only received 26% of the support rate of top film critics, with a freshness rating of 53%, and the tomatoes were directly smashed, while the first "Shazam" Rotten Tomatoes was as high as 90%.

Fortunately, the 88% popcorn index saved the embarrassing word-of-mouth, and there are indications that "Shazam 2" has not been recognized by the general public, which undoubtedly adds to the impact on the box office.

"Shazam 2" starring Zachary Levy In Wrath of the Gods, Levi Billy Batson and his foster siblings use their transformative power to fight against the daughter of Atlas who destroyed the world.

Previous director David F. Sandberg returns to directing, with cast members such as Arthur Angel, Jack Dylan Glazer, Rachel Ziegler, Adam Brody, Liu Yuling and Helen Mirren making up the film's cast.

On top of that, there's really not much time left for Shazam 2, as Keanu Reeves and Donnie Yen are eyeing each other.

"Fast Pursuit 4" will open globally on March 24, the first three almost swept North American theaters, invincible, the fourth John Wick fought again, and this time Chinese kung fu superstar Donnie Yen joined.

At present, the North American media field has burst out word of mouth, 77 professional film critics have scored 92% Rotten Tomatoes freshness, good reputation, coupled with Keanu Reeves' sharp action scenes, will definitely be able to detonate North American theaters.

In this way, the time left for "Shazam 2" is only Monday to Friday, if it can't be turned over against the wind, the fact that the word-of-mouth box office is double on the street is basically unsolvable.

Then all of Warner DC's hopes this year are pinned on "The Flash" released on June 16, and this box office result is very important for Warner DC.

From "Ant-Man 3" to "Shazam 2", why aren't Hollywood superhero movies popular?

After James Gunn and Peter Safran took over the co-CEO of DC Pictures superheroes, the first movie turned out to be like this, which makes people sigh, why are Hollywood superhero movies not popular?

This is not referring to the DC side, and the same is true for Marvel's "Ant-Man 3".

"Ant-Man 3" impressed with a massive box office of $106 million in February, but in the weeks that followed, it became the lowest-grossing film in the trilogy.

From "Ant-Man 3" to "Shazam 2", what went wrong?

David M. A. Gross said: "So far, 'Ant-Man' has slowed down after a good start, and 'Shazam 2' has fallen into the abyss before it has even started, and the reason is that neither film has found anything original, creative. ”

What this big coffee said, we don't understand, what does it mean, it is estimated that only he knows it, Brother Brown has his own unique opinions, the analysis is as follows:

First, audience tastes change.

Over time, the audience's taste in movies is also changing, and for a period of time, superhero movies have indeed attracted a large number of fans, such as Marvel's 11-year layout, 22 movies launched, almost every box office hit.

There are too many superhero movies, and the boilerplate is too serious, the plot is similar, and now the domestic editor can write it, the approximate content is from a small thing, into the superhero origin stage, and then through continuous upgrading and evolution, the kung fu is getting higher and higher.

Then lead to the villain, and finally fight the hero, this type of movie has been too old, lack of novelty and creativity, such a single plot, now can not meet the audience's curiosity.

Second, overseas competition pressure is high.

Globally, Hollywood superhero movies compete fiercely with local films, let's compare the Chinese mainland market, which is increasingly difficult to sell Hollywood blockbusters due to the rise of local Chinese films.

For example, "Black Panther 2", "Ant-Man 3" and "Thunder Shazam 2" were released in Chinese mainland, and encountered the Spring Festival end-of-the-scenes movie, "Poisonous Tongue Lawyer" and "Keep You Safe".

This, coupled with the huge differences between Chinese culture and Hollywood films, also makes audiences more inclined to choose local films.

"Thunder Shazam 2" only collected 30 million yuan at the mainland box office last week, while Dapeng's "Keep You Safe" again slammed 212 million yuan in the second week, defeating "Shazam 2" to win the championship.

Third, the production cost is high, focusing on special effects rather than the plot.

The audience also prefers action, science fiction, adventure and other types of movies, and superhero movies will also rise in production costs because of a large number of special effects.

However, while Hollywood screenwriters attach importance to special effects, they ignore the creation of plots, such as 90% of the plot in "Ant-Man 3" takes place in the quantum field, and the contradictions and conflicts are very pediatric and unreasonable, and have been widely complained.

Even the plot of Cameron's "Avatar 2" has been criticized by fans, not to mention the superheroes who come and go freely.

The plot lacks innovation and breakthrough, and it is difficult for the audience to have long-term interest and resonance with this type of movie, so the plot is always king, and special effects are only a plus in terms of plot, so don't put the cart before the horse.

To sum up, this is the reason why the Hollywood superhero movies I analyzed are becoming less and less popular, caused by a combination of factors such as changes in audience tastes, pressure of overseas competition, heavy special effects and light plots, lack of innovation and breakthroughs.

I hope that superhero movies can open up a different way, like Warner DC's "Joker", starting from scratch and being more exquisite.

Well, the North American box office report for the 11th week of 2023 (March 17-19) is here for you, and we will see you in the next issue.