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Posted April 8, 2019 by Mike Tyrkus in News
 
 

Box-Office Weekend: Shazam! Makes DC Movies Fun Again

The unbelievable has happened, that is, a film in the DC Extended Universe has proven both critically and commercially popular. Shazam! performed above expectations, delivering a debut opening weekend of $53.5 million. The film, starring Zachary Levi, did well internationally as well, generating approximately $102 million to give it a worldwide opening weekend somewhere south of $160 million.

Shazam! posterThe horror film remake Pet Sematary debuted just behind Shazam! with $25 million, giving it the second-best performance on opening weekend for a Stephen King movie, just behind It (2017). The live-action version of Dumbo finished in third place with $18.2 million and a two-week total of $76.3 million. Just behind that adorable pachyderm was Jordan Peele’s horror film Us, which added another $13.8 million in its third week of release to bring its total to $152.4 million.

The second super hero—well, super heroine that is—Captain Marvel, raised its five-week total to $374.1 million with $12.7 million over the weekend for the Brie Larson led film. Sixth place belonged to the Taraji P. Henson and Sam Rockwell drama The Best of Enemies, which took in $4.5 million in its first week of release. Five Feet Apart dropped a few spots to seventh place with $3.7 million over the weekend to raise its four-week cumulative total to $41.6 million.

Falling to the eight spot this week was last week’s fourth-place finisher, the anti-abortion themed drama Unplanned, which added $3.2 million to raise its total to $12.5 million. The animated family comedy Wonder Park brought its four-week total to $42 million adding $2 million over the weekend. Finally, Universal and DreamWorks’ How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World brought in $2 million to give the film a seven-week total of $156.7 million as it looks poised to depart from the top ten in the very near future.

Looking forward, next week will see the release of a new Laika animated film, Missing Link as well as the reboot of Hellboy. For those more interested in the comedic, there is the age-swapping comedy Little.

Weekend Box Office (April 5th – April 7th)

  1. Shazam!…$53.5 Million
  2. Pet Sematary…$25 Million
  3. Dumbo…$18.2 Million
  4. Us…$13.8 Million
  5. Captain Marvel…$12.7 Million
  6. The Best of Enemies…$4.5 Million
  7. Five Feet Apart…$3.7 Million
  8. Unplanned…$3.2 Million
  9. Wonder Park…$2 Million
  10. How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World…$2 Million
Mike Tyrkus

Mike Tyrkus

Editor in Chief at CinemaNerdz.com
An independent filmmaker, co-writer and director of over a dozen short films, the Editor in Chief of CinemaNerdz.com has spent much of the last three decades as a writer and editor specializing in biographical and critical reference sources in literature and the cinema, beginning in February 1991 reviewing films for his college newspaper. He was a member of the Detroit Film Critics Society, as well as the group's webmaster and one-time President for over a decade until the group ceased to exist. His contributions to film criticism can be found in Magill's Cinema Annual, VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever (of which he was the editor for nearly a decade until it too ceased to exist), the International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers, and the St. James Film Directors Encyclopedia (on which he collaborated with editor Andrew Sarris). He has also appeared on the television program Critic LEE Speaking alongside Lee Thomas of FOX2 and Adam Graham, of The Detroit News. He currently lives in the Detroit area with his wife and their dogs.