Movies

Friday Box Office: ‘Shazam!’ Thunders to $20.5 Million


shazam-zachary-levi-sliceShazam! brightened up the box office on Friday night, taking in $20.5 million on its way to a projected $51-54 million debut. It’s an impressive haul for sure, but those numbers would also mark the lowest domestic opening for a movie in the DC Extended Universe, below Aquaman‘s $67 million. (To be fair, Aquaman then went on to gross more than a billion dollars worldwide.)

Directed by David F. Sanberg (Annabelle: Creation), the film follows the 14-year-old Billy Batson (Asher Angel), a wayward kid in the foster system who is given the power to transform into an adult superhero—played by Zachary Levi—just by saying the word “Shazam.” Mark Strong plays the villainous Dr. Thaddeus Sivana, and Batson’s newfound foster family is played by Jack Dylan Grazer, Grace Fulton, Ian Chen, Jovan Armand, and Faithe Herman. Box office aside, audiences are all for the DC Universe’s lighter side; Shazam! garnered a mighty impressive A Cinemascore.

Meanwhile, fellow newcomer Pet Semetary couldn’t quite crawl all the way back to life. The R-rated horror film, based on the Stephen King novel of the same name, took in $10 million on Friday night for a projected opening between $23-25 million. This, of course, doesn’t touch the $71 million opening of 2019’s other big R-rated horror flick, Us—which nabbed another $4 million on Friday—but it’s not exactly a death knell, either. And neither is Pet Semetary‘s C+ CinemaScore, seeing as horror offerings tend to trend lower on that particular scale.

Friday’s third new offering, STXfilms’ Best of Enemies, landed with a thud in sixth place with $1.6 million. The film stars Taraji P. Henson as civil rights activist Ann Atwater, facing off against Ku Klux Klan member C.P. Ellis, played by Sam Rockwell.

Take a look at Friday’s numbers below and check back tomorrow for full weekend estimates. (Numbers via Box Office Mojo.)

Rank Title Friday Total
1. Shazam!    $20,500,000 $23,825,000
2. Pet Semetary       $10,000,000 $10,000,000
3. Dumbo          $4,932,000 $62,979,489
4. Us      $4,370,000 $142,952,995
5. Captain Marvel   $3,472,000 $364,923,563





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