'Shazam!' Leads Weekend with $53M Debut; 'Pet Sematary' Digs Up $25M

The weekend played out mostly as expected with the release of Shazam! from Warner Bros. and New Line securing the top spot in both the domestic and worldwide marketplace while Paramount's release of Pet Sematary scored the second largest opening for a Stephen King adaptation. STX's The Best of Enemies, however, fell a bit below expectations as April is off to a solid start, but it won't be until the release of Avengers: Endgame at the end of the month that we'll be able to see whether this April will be able to challenge last year's record monthly grosses.

At the top of the box office, Warner Bros.'s release of New Line's Shazam! delivered just above expectations with an estimated $53.4 million for a cumulative total that stands at $56.7 million once you add in grosses from the late March, Fandango special event. The film was well received by critics and opening weekend audiences alike, the latter of which giving the film an "A" CinemaScore with males making up 57% of the crowd and 55% of the opening weekend audience coming in aged 25 years or older.

Looking ahead, Shazam!'s debut isn't too far behind Marvel's Ant-Man ($57.2m opening). Ant-Man went on to deliver a 3.1x multiplier in 2015, which is just ahead of the average multiplier for a film in the DC Extended Universe. This would suggest Shazam! could be looking at a $160+ million domestic run should word of mouth give it an assist over the coming weeks ahead of the April 26 opening of Avengers: Endgame.

Internationally, Shazam! generated an estimated $102 million from 79 international markets as the film opened day-and-date in virtually all overseas territories outside of Japan, where it will open on April 19. Leading the way was a $30.9 million opening in China followed by Mexico ($6.2m), UK ($5.3m), Russia ($5.2m), Brazil ($5.1m), Indonesia ($4.1m), Korea ($3.9m), Australia ($3.4m), France ($2.8m), Taiwan ($2.7m), Thailand ($2.2m), Malaysia ($2m), Italy ($2m), Spain ($1.7m) and Germany ($1.4m). The film's overall worldwide debut comes in a $158.8 million.

In the runner-up position, Paramount's release of Pet Sematary delivered an estimated $25 million, which is in line with studio expectations for the $21 million production. The performance ranks as the second largest opening for a Stephen King adaptation, behind only 2017's monster hit It. The film received a "C+" CinemaScore with 52% of the opening weekend crowd coming in female while 58% of the audience was aged 25 years or older.

Looking ahead, the film's performance is similar to the $25.7 million debut for Evil Dead remake, which opened over the same weekend in 2013 and went on to gross just over $54 million. Similarly, 2007's Halloween remake debuted with $26.3 million and went on to gross $54.2 million while the 2005 remake of The Amityville Horror opened with $23.5 million and went on to gross over $65 million.

Internationally, Pet Sematary opened in the first 46 international markets, representing 73% of the marketplace, and grossed $17.3 million. The performance was led by a $3.1 million opening in Russia followed by the UK ($2m), Mexico ($2m) and Germany ($1.5m). The film will open in France and Korea next weekend followed by a May 9 release in Brazil.

Taking the bronze medal, Disney's Dumbo took a hard fall, dropping -60% in its second weekend for an estimated $18.2 million, bringing the film's domestic me to over $76 million. The reported $170 million production is struggling to match expectations for a Disney title of this sort, suffering a sophomore weekend drop similar to 2016's Alice Through the Looking Glass, which only managed a 2.86x multiplier. Internationally, the pic brought in an estimated $39.6 million from 55 markets for an overseas cume that now totals $137.5 million and a global tally that is now just shy of $214 million.

Universal's Us took a -58% dip in its second weekend as it would appear Pet Sematary did take a chunk out of its box office this weekend as the film has now delivered over $152 million as it enters its third week in release and now ranks among the top five R-rated horror films ever. The film also added another $10.3 million internationally this weekend as its global cume now totals over $216 million.

Rounding out the top five is Disney's Captain Marvel with an estimated $12.68 million as the superhero film has now topped $374 million at the domestic box office. The film also added another $14.1 million internationally for a global cume that now stands at $1.037 billion, which moves it into the top 30 all-time.

Outside the top five, STXFilms's The Best of Enemies came in below expectations with an estimated $4.5 million on 1,705 screens. The film received an "A" CinemaScore from opening day crowds while playing to a weekend audience that was 63% female and 79% was 25 and older.

In limited release, Greenwich's The Public brought in an estimated $279,294 from 265 locations ($1,054 PTA); A24's High Life topped the charts based on per theater average with an estimated $100,028 from four theaters ($25,007 PTA); Good Deed's Storm Boy brought in an estimated $46,744 from 56 locations ($835 PTA); and Amazon's Peterloo opened with an estimated $30,426 from three locations ($10,142 PTA).

Next weekend will be busy with four new wide releases beginning with United Artists Releasing's debut of Laika's new title, Missing Link, opening in ~3,500 theaters; Lionsgate will open Hellboy in ~3,200 locations; Universal's comedy Little is set for over 2,600 theaters; and Aviron will debut After in approximately 2,000 locations.