Shazam! was rumored to have a production budget of only $100 million USD but it seems the actual figure is even lower, as it's now been confirmed that the film only cost Warner Bros. $80 million to produce.
With an opening weekend domestic haul of $53 million and a worldwide gross of $158.6 million, the film has virtually doubled its production budget in a single weekend. More impressively, the film only suffered a 4% drop from Friday to Saturday, indicating a strong word of mouth.
Shazam! should prove to be extremely profitable for WB as it adds to its total in the coming weeks.
Director David F. Sandberg, executive producer Peter Safran, and screenwriter Henry Gayden can certainly ease any concerns they may have had about the chances of the film receiving a sequel.
Shazam! also provides strong evidence for the argument that all superhero films don't need $200+ million budgets to garner audience interest.
We all have a superhero inside us, it just takes a bit of magic to bring it out. In Billy Batson’s (Angel) case, by shouting out one word—SHAZAM!—this streetwise 14-year-old foster kid can turn into the adult Super Hero Shazam (Levi), courtesy of an ancient wizard. Still a kid at heart—inside a ripped, godlike body—Shazam revels in this adult version of himself by doing what any teen would do with superpowers: have fun with them! Can he fly? Does he have X-ray vision? Can he shoot lightning out of his hands? Can he skip his social studies test? Shazam sets out to test the limits of his abilities with the joyful recklessness of a child. But he’ll need to master these powers quickly in order to fight the deadly forces of evil controlled by Dr. Thaddeus Sivana (Strong).
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