John Wick: Chapter 4 arrived in theaters this weekend and, as expected, it completely obliterated Shazam! Fury of the Gods at the North American box office.
Debuting with a massive $73.5 million, the movie also earned $64 million overseas for a global start of $137.5 million. It's been a big few days for Lionsgate, but a weekend to forget for the DCEU. With a -68% drop, the Shazam! sequel made only $12.1 million, for a U.S. total of $56.1 million and, even more disappointingly, $102.4 million worldwide.
Somehow, Shazam! Fury of the Gods has ended up being an even bigger flop than Black Adam and this is a dreadful start to the year for a shared world that's already on its last legs.
Will The Flash fare any better? While plenty of praise is being heaped on that movie, controversies continue to surround lead star Ezra Miller and, now everyone knows a reboot in on the way, it too could struggle to find an audience. As for Fury of the Gods, a week of what can best be described as whining from the movie's cast and director can't have exactly helped matters.
It's not just the DCEU that's having a rough time of it, however.
Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania limped to $209.9 million at the end of its sixth weekend, and with $470 million worldwide, it's not even close to matching its predecessors. Ant-Man earned $519 million, while Ant-Man and The Wasp followed with $622 million.
Needless to say, between these numbers and Disney CEO Bob Iger's recent comments, we don't anticipate there being another Ant-Man movie.
In our review of that movie, we said: "Despite being an example of why a movie shouldn’t be shot almost entirely in The Volume, every time Jonathan Majors steps on screen as Kang, Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania is an epic tale to astonish and a monumental chapter in the Multiverse Saga."
As for the Shazam! sequel we wrapped that verdict up with: "Despite lacking so much of what made Shazam! great, there’s plenty of fun to be had with Shazam! Fury of the Gods, a movie that serves as a reminder the DCEU wasn’t all bad. It’s just a shame it never quite manages to electrify us in the same way as its predecessor."
What do you watch in theaters this weekend?