Friday Estimates: Shazam’s Shockingly Strong Start
April 6, 2019
Shazam was able to take full advantage of its impressive previews, and its $20.5 million Friday debut should be enough to carry it above our initial prediction. Its reviews remain above 90% positive and it earned an A from CinemaScore. Furthermore, its a hit with families, so that should also help its legs over the rest of the weekend and beyond. As for the film’s international debut, it is almost as impressive, as the film earned $29.2 million on Friday for a three-day total of $44.0 million in 79 markets. It is not doing as well as it is here, at least relative to the sizes of the markets, but this is still a fantastic start for a film that cost $85 million to make. If there isn’t already a sequel in the works, there will be one shortly.
Pet Sematary was in a distant second place with $10.0 million. This is a little below expectations, but still worth celebrating. The film earned fantastic reviews, but it only managed a C plus from CinemaScore. (Horror fans are a fickle bunch.) This will likely hurt its legs, but they shouldn’t be shorter than the average horror film. Meanwhile, it will top its $21 million production budget before the end of the weekend. If it can so as well internationally, then it will break even before it reaches the home market.
Dumbo fell 68% from its opening Friday to just $4.93 million this Friday. That’s a really sharp decline for a family film. Granted, as a family film, it should bounce back the most on Saturday, but it will still miss our $24 million prediction by a substantial margin. In fact, it will likely miss $20 million over the weekend. It is still on pace for $100 million domestically, but it will need help to break even any time soon.
Us was right behind with $4.37 million on Friday, putting it on pace for $15 million over the full weekend. This is a little lower than anticipated, but still the film is already profitable, so there’s no reason to be concerned about this result.
Captain Marvel is holding on better than expected, with $3.47 million on Friday, putting it on pace for $13 million over the weekend. It would reach $400 million domestically, even if it didn’t get a boost from Avengers: Endgame’s release in a few weeks. With the upcoming installment in the MCU giving it a boost, it could top Wonder Woman domestically.
The Best of Enemies opened in sixth place with $1.62 million on Friday, which is even lower than our low expectations and even reaching $5 million is probably out of reach. The film has mixed reviews, but it did earn an A from CinemaScore, so it is connecting with audiences more than it connected with critics.
- Shazam Comparisons
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- Pet Sematary Comparisons
- The Best of Enemies Comparisons
Filed under: Friday Estimates, Shazam!, Captain Marvel, Dumbo, The Best of Enemies, Us, Pet Sematary, Marvel Cinematic Universe