‘Shazam!’ Still Flies High at Box Office With $25 Million 2nd Weekend

Though mid-week numbers were somewhat lower than expected, Warner Bros./New Line’s “Shazam!” easily stayed at the top of the box office charts with a $25 million second weekend, dropping a decent 53% from its $53.5 million opening.

That gives the DC blockbuster a domestic total through two weekends of just under $95 million, and depending on the performance of the horror film “The Curse of La Llorona” next weekend, “Shazam!” might have a chance to stay No. 1 for one more frame before “Avengers: Endgame” takes over the box office.

As for this weekend’s new releases, two of them are on their way to become big flops. One is Lionsgate/Millennium’s “Hellboy,” which has been panned with a 15% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes and a C on CinemaScore. With such poor word of mouth, the R-rated reboot of the Dark Horse Comics hero sits third on the charts with a $12 million opening from 3,303 screens, below projections for a $17-20 million opening and against a reported $50 million budget.

Also struggling is Laika’s latest stop-motion animated film, “Missing Link,” which was distributed by United Artists on 3,413 screens. Unlike “Hellboy,” this film had characteristically strong reception for a Laika film with an 88% RT score and a B+ on CinemaScore.

But “Missing Link” has also continued the decline of stop-motion at the box office with Laika’s worst opening weekend yet: $5.8 million. That is less than half of the $12.6 million opening earned by 2016’s “Kubo and the Two Strings,” which was Laika’s previous low opening. Despite an Oscar nomination, “Kubo” barely made back its $60 million budget with $69 million grossed worldwide.

One new release that did do well was Universal’s “Little,” which hit tracker expectations with a $15.5 million opening from 2,667 screens. Produced by Will Packer Productions on a $20 million budget, the film received mixed review with a 50% RT score.

But the film was a hit with its primarily female, African-American audience, who gave it a B+ on CinemaScore. Even after the release of “Avengers,” “Little” may have a chance to leg out well as counterprogramming to the superhero blockbuster.

More to come…