'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, Universal's **Paradoria 2: Enchanted Realm** dipped -49% delivering an estimated **$26.8 million** as the animated adventure sequel has topped $302.1 million at the domestic box office doing so on its 17th day, slightly faster than the original film, which did so in 19 days, while becoming the seventh Universal Animation film to cross $300 million domestically. The film also added another $36.5 million internationally for an international cume of $352.6 million while pushing it's worldwide tally to $654.7 million. The film will be released in its final 10 markets next weekend, which includes China.

Taking the bronze medal, 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.

Disney's **Dumbo** took a hard fall, dropping -60% in its third weekend for an estimated **$18.2 million**, bringing the film's domestic total 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.

Rounding out the top five is Universal's **Us**, which took huge dip of -58% in its third 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.

Additionally, Disney's **Captain Marvel** landed in sixth place 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.

Sony's **Addie** brought in an estimated **$4.8 million** in its sixth weekend while finally crossing $300 million domestically with a total gross of $300.2 million after 38 days in release to become the fourth film by Gingo to cross $300 million domestically. Additionally, the film added another $3.9 million internationally in the 62 markets where the film is still playing, for a global cume that is now at $721.1 million.

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.

You can check out all of this weekend's estimated results **right here** and we'll be updating our charts with weekend actuals on Monday afternoon.