‘Shazam! Fury Of The Gods’ stumbles with $65m global box office debut; ‘Scream VI’, ‘Creed III’ scrap for second place

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World box office March 17-19

Rank	Film (distributor)	3-day (world)	Cume (world)	3-day (int’l)	Cume (int’l)	Territories
1.	Shazam! Fury Of The Gods (Warner Bros)	$65.5m	$65.5m	$35m	$35m	78
2.	Scream VI (Paramount)	$28.8m	$116m	$11.3m	$40m	54
3.	Creed III (Warner Bros)	$27.3m	$224.2m	$12m	$96.6m	76
4.	Post Truth (various)	$18.3m	$50.8m	$18.3m	$50.8m	1
5.	65 (Sony)	$10.9m	$38.8m	$5.1m	$16.4m	55
6.	Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania (Disney)	$7.3m	$462.6m	$3.3m	$256.8m	53
7.	Suzume (various)	$6.9m	$121.2m	$6.9m	$121.2m	6
8.	Revival (various)	$6.3m	$22.1m	$6.3m	$22.1m	1
9.	Cocaine Bear (Universal)	$5.6m	$74.9m	$1.7m	$16.5m	59
10.	Puss In Boots: The Last Wish (Universal)	$4.4m	$470.5m	$2.9m	$287.9m	82

Credit: Comscore. All figures are estimates.

‘Shazam! Fury Of The Gods’ debut falls short

UPDATED: In Shazam!, a bunch of foster kids of various shapes and sizes transform into powerful superheroes that swoop into the sky after saying the titular magic word. Sadly for Warner Bros and DC Films, the open box office for the franchise’s second instalment is looking distinctly earthbound and not so superheroic.

Shazam! Fury Of The Gods has debuted with a confirmed $30.1m in North America and $34.6m across 77 international markets, combining for $64.7m.

That compares with the opening box office for Shazam! in April 2019: $53.5m in North America, and $102m for international, combining for $155.5m. The sequel has debuted with less than half those numbers.

One big factor in the shortfall is the performance of the two films in China. Shazam! debuted in China with $30.4m, on its way to a $43.7m total there. Fury Of The Gods has opened in China with $4.3m. Russia, where Shazam! began with $5.2m, is also missing from the pie this time around.

After China, the top international markets for Fury Of The Gods are Mexico ($4.1m debut – 32% below Shazam!), UK/Ireland ($2.9m – 39% below Shazam!), and them Indonesia on $1.6m and Brazil and Australia each on $1.5m.

The first Shazam! film maxed out with $140.5m in North America, $225.6m for international markets, and $366.1m worldwide. Sequels traditionally open strong and fade fast, so Warner Bros will be hoping that this particular sequel will fly with a different – and more sustained – trajectory.

‘Scream VI’ hits $116m on second weekend

Like most horror sequels, Paramount’s Scream VI has fallen fast on its second weekend of play – but is enjoying stronger traction in international than domestic markets.

In North America, this direct sequel to 2022 reboot Scream fell 61% with an estimated second-weekend take of $17.5m. For international the drop was 46%, with estimated weekend takings of $11.3m.

In cumulative totals, Scream VI has reached $76.0m in North America and $40.0m in 53 international markets so far, combining for $116.0m worldwide.

UK/Ireland remains the top international territory for total box office with $6.3m, narrowly ahead of France with $6.0m. Mexico ($3.6m), Australia ($3.4m) and Germany ($2.8m) come next.

Scream VI is already 84% of the way to matching the $137.7m lifetime total of last year’s Scream. However, it will need to arrest the rate of decline in order to equal the franchise’s previous best performer: the original Scream reached $173.0m worldwide in 1996.

‘Creed III’ achieves franchise record with $224m total

UPDATED: After three weekends of play, Creed III has already punched its way to franchise-record box office. The third Creed film grossed an estimated $15.4m in North America at the weekend (down 44%) and $11.7m in international markets (down 50%).

Cumulative totals are $127.7m in North America (via MGM/UA), $96.6m for international (via Warner Bros), and $224.3m worldwide.

That means Creed III has already achieved record box office for the franchise – beating the lifetime totals of 2015’s Creed ($173.6m) and 2018’s Creed II ($214.2m).

France continues to lead the way for international markets, delivering $14.8m so far for Creed II, ahead of UK/Ireland ($14.0m), Germany ($9.5m), Mexico ($7.3m) and Italy ($6.7m).

Japan releases the film on May 26.

China release gives modest boost to ‘M3gan’

Sci-fi horror M3gan has returned to Universal’s box office reporting in its 12^th week of release thanks to the film’s belated arrival in China – where it landed in fifth place at the box office with $1.7m. The China haul boosts M3gan’s international total to $80.0m. Added to $95.0m for North America, the global tally now stands at $175.0m worldwide.

Among horror films based on original characters, M3gan ranks second for the pandemic era, behind Smile($217.4m) and ahead of Nope ($171.2m). Including sequels, the genre is led for this period by A Quiet Place Part II ($297.4m).

Also for Universal, DreamWorks Animation’s Puss In Boots: The Last Wish continues to add to its impressive total, and ranked 10^th at the global box office at the weekend – 15 weeks after landing in its first markets. Total so far is $470.5m, which compares with $555.0m for 2011’s Puss In Boots. The Last Wish is the second-biggest animation of the pandemic era, behind Illumination Entertainment’s Minions: The Rise Of Gru($939.6m).

Local films score in Serbia and Slovakia

A couple of local titles have scored in their respective markets in Eastern Europe. Following its March 9 release, Indigo Crystal topped the box office in Serbia for its first week with 35,277 admissions – which compares with runner-up 14,075 admits for Scream VI in the same period.

Luka Mihailović’s self-penned debut feature follows a man who, newly released from prison, and driven by the suicide of his best friend, tries to save his younger brother. Art Vista distributes in Serbia.

In Slovakia, dark comedy Invalid topped the box office for five consecutive weeks following its February 9 release, generating 132,020 admissions in this period for distributor CinemaArt SK, and €985,000 ($1.05m). Jonas Karasek’s film follows a maintenance worker looking for justice. Invalid releases in Czech Republic on April 20.