Right at the turn of the new year, our own Nick Doll wrote an editorial that pointed to reasons why DC’s Shazam! would not do well at the box office this year. Well, he used slightly more colorful language to get his point across. In the superhero landscape that included Captain Marvel, Hellboy, and Avengers: Endgame all within a few weeks of Shazam!‘s own release. It was stiff competition, to be sure, and he was confident it would result in the film’s failure.

While Nick never really established what he considered to be a failure here. By the end of its run, the film managed to take in $361.9 million worldwide. It’s actually not a bad haul, all things considered, but I suspect that him, and many others, may actually consider this a failure for DC, especially when Marvel Studios’ own Captain Marvel managed to reel in over $1 billion. Plus, $361.9 million is essentially what Marvel Studios got during Phase 1 of the MCU, so it’s easy to see this as nothing more than a failure.

I urge you to look beyond that for a moment and take a look at some of the realities we live in.

Golden Age of Blockbusters

As you all know, we live in a Golden Age of superhero movies. And not just superhero movies, but blockbusters as a whole. Movies have never been bigger on the big screen than they have been now, and add in the price of premium ticket sales, and you have a recipe for big box office bucks. Hell, Avengers: Endgame is currently on a path to reach $2.7 billion.

When looked at in that context it’s easy to look at smaller movies as lesser than. As failures. As complete jokes. But when we only compare these movies to others in its genre rather than the objective facts, you run the risk of losing sight of the studios’ overall goal. To make a profit.

Cost vs. Revenue

Yes, when you look at Shazam!, it’s easy to see it’s done worse business than most other Marvel movies, both old and new. However, we can’t forget to take a look at its budget. As was indicated with its associate with New Line Cinema, this was never expected to be a film that had a scope on par with the likes of, say, Aquaman, and it had a budget to fit.

With only $100 million spent, it was a relatively small risk for the studio. Now, in terms of marketing, we can look at anywhere from $50 million to $100 million — and that’s being generous. When all said and done, this thing could not have cost more than $200 million to get out there.

Taking into account the cut the theaters took of the revenue. There is no easy way to predict this, but figures I’ve heard being thrown around is around 75% of the total makes it back to the studio…so let’s play it safe and say 70% makes it back to the studio.

That means the studio takes home over $250 million, making for at least $50 million in profits, and likely closer to $100 million. Is it Avengers money? Not at all. But it doesn’t need to be in order to be a success. At the end of the day, that’s $50 million to $100 million New Line and Warner Bros. didn’t have last year, so that’s a big win.

But that’s not the only way this movie was a success.

Street Cred

The DC Extended Universe has been having a narrative problem. From the get-go, it seemed to have fans polarized. However, over the course of the past couple of years, they’ve slowly managed to change that narrative with films like Wonder Woman, Aquaman, and now Shazam!

While Shazam! may not be a box office darling, it was a film that was well received by both critics and fans, and when a wider audience is finally exposed to it on home video, they’re likely to enjoy it as well and want a sequel. Furthermore, it’ll be considered another notch in the belt of “good movies” in this troubled universe.

That One Condition

So, in the title of this piece, I said this movie did well enough to warrant a sequel on one condition. As I also mentioned earlier, based on the box office, I believe it’s made enough money to warrant it. So the condition is simple: it needs to be made for around the same budget.

Sure, there could be some wiggle room for an extra $10 to $20 million, but it’s important that New Line understands what worked here. Like Deadpool before it, it was the small scope and focus on character that won audiences over. Don’t forget that here. Keep the scope small, keep the characters at the forefront, and rein in that budget. Yes, we know that Black Adam could very well play into this next movie, but that’s not to say they can’t still keep the scope pulled back.

If they do that, there’s no reason this sequel will not only make money, but be yet another tally in the column of “good DCEU movies.”

But what do you think? Would you want to see a Shazam! sequel? What does New Line need to do to get it right? Let us know your thoughts down below!

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SOURCE: Box Office Mojo