‘Shazam 2’ Projected Opening is $30 Million — Death of Superhero Movies?

This year’s box-office has been surprisingly stellar with such mid-budget hits as “M3Gan,” “Creed III,” “Cocaine Bear,” “Scream VI” and “80 For Brady.”

However, things aren’t so rosy for superhero movies. We’ve been seeing some cracks in the dam in recent years, audiences less enthused by the latest Marvel and DC movies.

Despite making around $190 million at the box-office, this year’s “Ant and the Wasp: Quantamania” performed well below expectations. Its estimated global total might not even crack $500 million. That’s below average for an MCU movie.

Now we’re hearing pre-sale tickets for ‘Shazam 2’ are not selling well either. To the point where some are wondering if it will open below $30 million this weekend. The film is set to be unveiled in over 4000 screens this weekend.

Just put things into perspective, the first ‘Shazam’ opened with $53.5 million. The sequel cost $100 million to produce, not counting marketing costs — will it even make its money back?

I saw most of ‘Shazam 2’ this morning, but I won’t be reviewing it because I walked out of the movie after 90 minutes. I couldn’t take it anymore. I give most superhero movies a shot, it is my duty to do so, but this latest one was just plain childish.

Of course, this is not the end of the superhero era, still set to be released this year are “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.3,” “The Marvels,” “The Flash,” “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom,” “Blue Beetle” and “Kraven the Hunter.”

Some of these will most likely be big successes, but Marvel and DC movies are now becoming costly risks for the big studios. They’re now going to be thinking twice before greenlighting some of them.