The box office performance of Shazam! Fury of the Gods has been disappointing so far. After having an opening weekend that is lower than the first Shazam movie, the sequel has now suffered one of the worst second-week drops in DC franchise history.

Shazam 2 had a massive 68% drop in its second week at the box office. The movie earned a paltry $9.7 million at the US domestic box office in its sophomore week after debuting at the top spot with $30.1 million. John Wick: Chapter 4 has since taken over the top spot at the US domestic box office.

The nosedive is one of the worst among DC films, with only two other films having bigger drop-offs in ticket sales. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and The Suicide Squad are the two DC movies that have suffered a bigger falloff in ticket sales in their second week.

Looking at the numbers, Batman v Superman: Dawn dropped 69% in its second week at the theaters. The movie, which starred Henry Cavill, Ben Affleck, and Gal Gadot, earned $166 million on its opening weekend, which fell to $52.4 million in its second week. Its second-week haul is still bigger than Shazam! Fury of the Gods opening weekend earnings.

The Suicide Squad had an even bigger second-week nose dive at 70%. The Margot Robbie and John Cena-led movie only managed to earn $26.2 million in its opening week and $7.75 million during its second week. However, the movie did premiere simultaneously in theaters and on HBO Max which contributed to the lower numbers.

With the way things are going, Shazam! Fury of the Gods may not even match the box-office performance of Black Adam. The anti-hero movie starred by Dwayne Johnson managed to earn a total of $393 million at the end of its theatrical run. Black Adam wasn’t a commercial success as the movie was very expensive to produce and even incurred additional expenses with reshoots.

Some may attribute the poor showing of Shazam! Fury of the Gods to James Gunn and Peter Safran’s announcement of Chapter 1: Gods and Monsters for the new DC Universe.

Many fans were disappointed that the new slate of projects does not build on the existing DC Universe but will instead reboot the franchise. Many have expressed disinterest in seeing the upcoming DC movies this year as they will not be connected to the future of the DC Universe.

Others have blamed Dwayne Johnson for the poor box office performance of Shazam 2. Reports say that Johnson vetoed plans for Shazam to appear in a post-credits scene in Black Adam. Johnson preferred having Henry Cavill's Superman making a cameo in the movie.

Shazam may ultimately suffer the same fate as Black Adam in the new DC Universe after its poor box-office performance. DC Studios has confirmed that Dwayne Johnson will not be part of the new DC Universe.

Will we be seeing Zachary Levi’s Shazam in future projects? That is something only James Gunn and Peter Safran can answer. They will surely be looking at the box-office numbers before deciding on Shazam’s future.