LOS ANGELES — Warner Bros. has finally earned back the benefit of the doubt when it comes to its all-important superhero movies: “Shazam!” became the studio’s third nonsequel comic-book hit in a row over the weekend, arriving to applause from critics and stout ticket sales of nearly $156 million worldwide.
“We really want these movies to stand on their own, with filmmakers best suited to the characters,” Toby Emmerich, chairman of the Warner Bros. Pictures Group, said by phone on Sunday morning. “We’re all feeling deservedly really good.”
“Shazam!” was the No. 1 movie in North America, collecting $53.5 million over the weekend, according to Comscore, which compiles box-office data. Paid previews in partnership with Fandango in late March, designed to prompt positive chatter online, added $3.33 million. “Shazam!” also had a solid start in countries like Mexico and Russia.
[Read our critic’s take on “Shazam!”]
Second place at the domestic box office went to a remake of “Pet Sematary” (Paramount), based on the novel by Stephen King. It took in an estimated $25 million. Disney’s big-budget “Dumbo” trundled along in third place, selling $18.2 million in tickets, for a sad two-week total of $76.3 million.
“Shazam!” was made by New Line, a division of Warner that focuses on lower-cost films that often serve as counterprogramming. Made for about $100 million — about 40 percent less than most superhero movies — “Shazam!” tells the story of a teenage boy (played by Asher Angel, known for Disney Channel’s “Andi Mack”) who can turn himself into a hero with an adult body (Zachary Levi) and unique powers.
“New Line always thought that ‘Big’ as a superhero movie was a great idea, a way to make the genre feel fresh and different,” Emmerich said.
Warner has spent the better part of a decade trying to get its act together with movies based on characters from its DC Comics division — an imperative given the runaway success of rival Marvel Studios and the film industry’s increasing need for spectacles that audiences see as worth a trip to theaters. Part of the problem was that Warner stuck for too long with a dark vision for its superhero universe, set by the filmmaker Zack Snyder, that was clearly not working. That led to creative and financial messes like “Suicide Squad” and “Justice League.”
But the studio, having largely jettisoned Snyder’s plans and shaken up its executive ranks, including promoting Emmerich, has started to deliver superhero home runs on a consistent basis: “Wonder Woman” from Patty Jenkins, “Aquaman” from James Wan, and seemingly “Shazam!,” which was directed by a relative newcomer, David F. Sandberg.
Where the PG-13 “Shazam!” will end up at the box office remains a bit of a question mark given the impending arrival of “Avengers: Endgame.” Ticket buyers gave “Shazam!” an A grade in CinemaScore exit polls, an indication of staying power.
