‘Shazam! Fury of the Gods’ takes an almighty tumble at the box office as things go from bad to worse

With John Wick: Chapter 4 finally playing in theaters and garnering most of the attention, Shazam! Fury of the Gods was always destined to take a hefty tumble in its second weekend at the box office.

The prognosis is looking even more dire than expected, though, with the DCU sequel nosediving to an alarming degree. In its sophomore Friday, David F. Sandberg’s comic book blockbuster earned a mere $2.35 million, a startling 80 percent drop from the previous week.

That means the chances are growing increasingly slim that Fury of the Gods will have even surpassed $100 million in global ticket sales by the end of tomorrow, which is nothing short of disastrous for the superhero genre. With star Zachary Levi going out of his way to kick up a hornet’s nest on social media, too, you’ve got to think that the Shazamily may not have a future in James Gunn’s new – and hopefully improved – DCU.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with Fury of the Gods, other than the fact it’s not very good, but it was always being predicted for commercial catastrophe. The marketing was weak, the hype was even weaker, and middling reviews didn’t do a damn thing to increase excitement or awareness among the target audience.

We’re staring a massive flop square in the face, then, which maybe isn’t what the Shazam! franchise deserved, even if it looked to be unavoidable weeks out from release. The ball is in Gunn and Peter Safran’s court, but maybe they won’t be willing to play.