Shazam! Fury of the Gods, released in 2023, has been labeled as one of the biggest box office bombs of the year. However, the movie had all the components necessary to perform better at the box office than it did. In this article, we explore the reasons why Shazam 2’s box office results fell short of expectations.

Transition In DC Movie Brand

The DC Movie brand is currently undergoing a period of transition under the leadership of co-CEOs James Gunn and Peter Safran. This shift has left the existing film slate in limbo as the remaining movies produced under the previous regime don’t necessarily fit into Gunn’s new plan for the DC movie universe. This may have affected the marketing and promotion of Shazam! Fury of the Gods, which could have contributed to its lackluster box office results.

Rotten Tomatoes Score And Critical Consensus

Review aggregators like Rotten Tomatoes have changed the way people perceive movie reviews, with “Fresh” or “Rotten” scores suggesting whether a movie is a success or failure based on the critical consensus. However, a closer look at the Rotten Tomatoes score for Shazam! Fury of the Gods reveals that, while the critic score is 49 percent, the score from Rotten Tomatoes’ “Top Critics” is disproportionately negative at 26 percent. This significantly reduces the apparent critical consensus across the board.

Audience Score And Box Office Performance

While the critical consensus is relevant to box office success, the audience score has a much stronger correlation to box office performance. Shazam! Fury of the Gods has an identical 82 percent audience score to the first Shazam!, suggesting that the movie had the potential to do well at the box office. This correlation is significant because critics make up a tiny portion of the box office compared to the audience.

Marketing And Promotion

Effective marketing and promotion have a strong impact on opening weekend box office results, as well as reviews, audience scores, and word-of-mouth impact on box office performance after the opening weekend. Shazam! Fury of the Gods and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania had similar reviews, but Quantumania had a far bigger opening weekend thanks to marketing and the strength of the Marvel brand. As the DC movie brand improves, future DC movies should see stronger marketing pushes, which could give them a stronger opening weekend performance and a better shot at the box office, regardless of reviews.

Shazam! Fury of the Gods had all the elements needed to be a box office success but fell short of expectations. The movie’s box office performance may have been affected by the transition in the DC movie brand’s leadership and the lack of effective marketing and promotion. While critical consensus is relevant, the audience score has a stronger correlation to box office performance. Future DC movies should see stronger marketing pushes to give them a stronger opening weekend performance and a better shot at the box office.