It goes without saying that comic book movies don’t come cheap, with almost every single one of Marvel and DC’s major releases now nudging towards the $200 million mark in production costs. However, David F. Sandberg has proven himself to be one of the genre’s thriftiest filmmakers, but that may not be enough to save Shazam! Fury of the Gods from disaster.
For comparison, the opening installment is one of – if not the – least expensive movies in the franchise’s entire back catalogue, and it’s no coincidence that it turned out to be the most profitable. Joss Whedon’s Justice League cost $300 million and didn’t turn a single penny of profit, while Shazam! ended up in the black to an extent no other entry in the decade-long history of the superhero saga can match.
And yet, Fury of the Gods is still facing an uphill battle to win over the doubters, even if an estimated $100 million price tag means that it doesn’t need to soar anywhere near as high as many of its contemporaries in order to be deemed a hit. Unfortunately, Zachary Levi’s sequel is tracking for one of the DCU’s worst theatrical runs yet, but there could be a silver lining.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania was twice as costly as Fury of the Gods, and has been labeled as a colossal disappointment now that it’s on its way to becoming the lowest-grossing sequel the MCU has ever seen. By comparison, if you remember that the first Shazam! netted $366 million and still turned a sizeable profit, then numbers that could be deemed as underwhelming might actually prove to be enough to ensure Sandberg’s second stab at the property avoids being labeled as yet another DC dud.