Shazam! Fury of the Gods debuted this past weekend and the optics don't look good. With a $30.5 million gross across 4,071 theaters in the United States, the film’s performance is less magical and more of another example of why the DCEU desperately needs a reboot. At this point, it will take a miracle for the sequel to turn a profit at the box office to persuade James Gunn to bring back the titular character on the big screen.

Shazam! Fury of the Gods' earnings at the domestic box office makes for one of the worst debut grosses of any Hollywood superhero film, as well as any film in Warner’s DC Cinematic Universe. Unfortunately, the film didn’t do much better in the foreign theaters either, grossing only $35 million from 78 international markets despite securing a release in China. 

As a result, Shazam! Fury of the Gods only managed a combined gross of $65.5 million across domestic and international markets in its debut weekend.

Despite positive early reviews, Fury of the Gods didn't do much better with critics. On the review website Rotten Tomatoes, the film could only manage an approval rating of 53%, although it fared better with CinemaScore, managing a B+ rating.

Shazam! Fury of the Gods cost Warner Bros. Discovery about $110 million to produce, minus marketing costs. Shazam! cost roughly the same amount but pulled in much more, so don't expect the Warner Bros. Discovery executives to feel happy with how its sequel is performing. To compare, the first Shazam! grossed $53.5 million on its debut in 2019. It grossed an additional $102 million in 79 markets for a worldwide total of $155.5 million. The film also garnered a 90% Rotten Tomatoes rating as well as an average CinemaScore grade of A.

Fortunately, Shazam! Fury of the Gods had a positive impact on audiences. Warner Bros. is hoping that word of mouth will help push more viewers into theaters but we highly doubt it. John Wick: Chapter 4, which reviews are saying is the best in the franchise, will hit theaters on March 24 followed by Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves on March 31.

The studio did everything to ensure the film performed well. It received a robust marketing campaign and was moved from its original release date to avoid clashing with Disney's Avatar: The Way of Water.

By the way, a Deadline report claims that rivals believed that the first Shazam! did not perform well enough for a sequel. However, New Line Cinema nonetheless decided to make this sequel since the first film made $75 million in profit.