Shazam! Targeting $45 Million Opening Weekend

It looks to be a solid, if not quite super, start for Shazam! at the box office next month. The DC superhero film is currently tracking to open with about $40 million to $45 million according to Deadline when it opens on April 5th.

That will be considered a solid start for the film, which is arriving in theaters on in the superhero dead zone between last weekend’s Captain Marvel and April 26th’s Avengers: Endgame. While it is nowhere near the $153 million total that Captain Marvel started with, Shazam! is a somewhat lesser-known character from DC’s stable, where the Brie Larson-starrer had the benefit of having its studio’s name built into the title. Shazam! also has to contend with the fact that it will be facing off with not only the fifth week of Captain Marvel, where that film is still expected to be bringing in some money, but the fourth week of Jordan Peele’s highly-anticipated horror film Us and the second weekend of Disney’s Dumbo. Those two films are expected to start with $40 million and $60 million, respectively, and will be siphoning the male fan-heavy crowd as well as family audiences.

Also in the mix is Pet Semetary, which is opening the same weekend as Shazam! and should take in around $20 million to $25 million. All of this adds up to a decent start for Shazam!, but one that is not on the level of Aquaman or Wonder Woman.

That said, it is important to note that early reactions to the film are glowing, and good reviews could easily boost the film’s final numbers. With a somewhat lesser budget than your average superhero film at “only” $100 million, it will have less ground to make up and should still be aiming to be a modest hit for Warner Bros. and DC.