THE MAGIC WORD

Feel-Good Superhero Flick ‘Shazam!’ Tops Box Office

Bringing in a cool $53 million in its opening weekend.

Shazam!, the new feel-good superhero flick from Warner Bros., topped the box office this weekend with a $53 million haul, according to a Sunday report from Variety. The film follows the story of Billy Baston, a 14-year-old foster child who morphs into a superhero when someone says the magic word. The film exceed expectations, netting nearly $10 million more than initially predicted. And while it brought in far less than other superhero films like Aquaman and Wonder Woman, it was also far cheaper to produce due to its relatively few special effects. “Wonder Woman and Aquaman were very dark and dramatic and different,” said Jeff Goldstein, Warner Bros. president of domestic distribution. “It shows we’re making a variety of different movies that can all live in the same space.” Pet Sematary, Paramount’s horror remake of the classic Stephen King novel, debuted at #2.

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