Shazam: Fury of the Gods has found itself a ton of trouble from production to sales. Recently, events regarding Dwayne Johnson and his controlling nature have come to light. It turned out that due to the actor’s demands and pressure, a post-credit scene had to be canceled and re-written differently. 

An executive from DC studios also accused Johnson of being bossy and trying to push everyone around in order to make Black Adam look like the good guy. On the other hand, critics panned the movie endlessly, and it ended up making very less in its opening week. No, with the release of Chad Stahelski’s John Wick: Chapter 4, the Shazam film may just be completely out of the picture. Here’s more.

Wick Vs. Shazam

If both the characters were real, let’s face it, a magical superhero would beat the gun-toting master assassin in no time. However, when it comes to box-office returns, Wick has hailed supreme. Shazam: Fury of the Gods is perhaps one of the worst-rated films in DC history, with a Rotten Tomatoes score of a mere 51%, which keeps fluctuating. On the other hand, John Wick: Chapter 4 has a score of 95%.

Baba Yaga is back in a way some fans expected. John Wick: Chapter 3 Parabellum had an opening box-office record of about $56.8 million. The fourth installment of the hit franchise has soared to the sky, topping its own record with a massive $74.5 million opening. Shazam: Fury of the Gods, on the flip side, only made somewhere around $37.5 million in its opening week and now has fallen down to an unimpressive $9.7 million in its second week.

“I wasn’t expecting a repeat of the first movie critically, but I was still a little surprised because I think it’s a good film. Oh well,” tweeted Shazam 2 director David F. Sandberg after the movie was basically crucified by critics. The film has managed to make around $102.4 million on a global scale, with a weekly tally of $56.1 million. 

Lots of controversies followed Shazam after accusations against Dwayne Johnson surfaced. Actor Zachary Levi was sucked into the storm of accusations after he confirmed that they were being “thwarted” by outside forces. The actor had to go live on his social media handles and explain his point of view.

“I got flack about it because people were saying, ‘Oh, What are you doing? You’re trying to blame this guy because your movie’s not doing well. Like you’re trying to blame us,’” he said. “Listen, I haven’t blamed anybody. There’s not one single person that I have blamed for anything about the way that our movie has performed.”

On the other hand, a relatively clean production of John Wick: Chapter 4 led to great success. The film managed to open up as number 1 in every country where it was released. It may be due to the brilliant star cast of the film, which features the usual ensemble of Keanu Reeves, Ian McShane, and Lance Reddick, along with new members such as Bill Skarsgard, Hiroyuki Sanada, and Rina Sawayama.

Director Chad Stahelski has mentioned how he may not make another John Wick film. This may be his last outing as he has some other projects, and it seems like they’ve made enough films for the assassin. While fans will never get enough of John’s classy techniques and sharp dialogues (and blades), the director may be done with the franchise. However, he has mentioned that he may be open to making one more film if actor Keanu Reeves and Stahelski himself feel like they’ve found the right story.

Creed is the series that was born from the fan-favorite boxing series Rocky. The formerly starred none other than Sylvester Stallone as the titular character. One of Rocky’s famous opponents was Apollo Creed, the son of whom is now the star of the Creed series. Creed III is the first film from the franchise, which is directed by Michael B. Jordan himself, who plays Adonis Creed. 

While the former movies saw Ryan Coogler in the director’s seat, the new film has him as well as Sylvester Stallone as co-producers of the film. It has now managed to beat many of the newer movies at the global box office. Here’s the official plot summary of Creed III:

Still dominating the boxing world, Adonis Creed is thriving in his career and family life. When Damian, a childhood friend, and former boxing prodigy resurfaces after serving time in prison, he’s eager to prove that he deserves his shot in the ring. The face-off between former friends is more than just a fight. To settle the score, Adonis must put his future on the line to battle Damian — a fighter who has nothing to lose.

Box Office Collections

In France, the film opened up on 633 screens and made up over $7 million in revenues, which further added to its global collection. This means Creed III made 73% more than Creed and about 32% more than Creed II. The film is also making the most money as a sports title in the industry. UK and Germany made the movie over $10 million thanks to the brilliant publicity Jordan was able to manage for the film. Overall, the film made about $100 million worldwide, of which $41.8 million came from international releases in over 70 countries. The film also sees Tessa Thompson reprise her role and Jonathan Majors as Creed’s new opponent.

Marvel’s latest outing, Antman and The Wasp: Quantumania, is in the theatres right now. The film was very highly anticipated and had great ad campaigns. However, once it actually dropped in the cinema, the response was perhaps even a little less than underwhelming. 

While the film stars great actors like Paul Rudd, Jonathan Majors, and Evangeline Lilly in pivotal roles, that was not enough to gain the public’s favor. And critics were even less impressed by the film. The film currently stands at 6.5 on IMDb and only 48% on Rotten Tomatoes. Understandably, the film suffered at the box office.

Ant Vs. Bear

Antman and The Wasp: Quantumania opened at about $120 million in the US. It made about $105 million in the first three days of its opening week. However, everything came crumbling down. Some blame the studios for not promoting the film full blast, while most people agree that the bad reviews finally got to the film. Now, projections indicate that box office revenue for the film can drop over 70% in the coming week. This would be potentially the worst drop in superhero film history. 

Previously, Zack Snyder’s DC film Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice came very close to a seventy percent drop at 69.7% following bad reviews. Similar trends follow Antman 3. It looks like fancy CGI fights, and a star-studded cast is no longer enough for the viewers. The plot and direction have to be tasteful for fans to actually enjoy the film. Similar trends were evident in one of Marvel’s other recent releases Thor: Love and Thunder. 

The film, directed by Taika Waititi, faced horrible audience reviews and dropped down to 67.7% in terms of box office revenues following the first week of its release. The film was criticized for not using Christian Bale’s massive talent enough in a film where the villain should have been the central character.

Marvel has now started delivering more and more half-baked films with tons of CGI and not enough plot to keep its original fanbase interested. On the other hand, Universal released Cocaine Bear, a film about—you guessed it, a bear who ends up taking cocaine. The film attracted a lot of younger viewers in America and grossed about $8.7 million this Friday, beating Antman 3, which stood at $8.3 million. Does this mean Cocaine Bear will be on the top for a long? Most likely not. The reason is simply that Marvel has more reach, and the Antman franchise is popular for good measure.

Worldwide Antman and The Wasp: Quantumania has made over $360 million, while Cocaine Bear, which will open in fifty other countries soon, is predicted to make about $5 million more in ticket sales. Of course, the hype for the movie is much less compared to even the worst of Marvel films, but it still takes the weekend cake at the domestic box office. Here’s the official plot of the film that’s based on a real incident:

After a 500-pound black bear consumes a significant amount of cocaine and embarks on a drug-fueled rampage, an eccentric gathering of cops, criminals, tourists, and teenagers assemble in a Georgia forest.

Other Titles

Lionsgate and Kingdom released Jesus Revolution. The film received a very warm welcome from the audience and is doing unexpectedly well at the box office. The film made about $3.3 million on Wednesday and Thursday and $6.95 million this Friday, making it a very strong contender at the domestic box office. It comes at a solid number 3 just after Antman and The Wasp: Quantumania.