Weekend Box Office Predictions
March 17 - March 19, 2023
Published on March 16, 2023 at 5:15PM Pacific |
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| This weekend sees the release of Warner Bros. and New Line's Shazam! Fury of the Gods. The latest installment of the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) and sequel to 2019's Shazam!, sees the return of both director
David F. Sandberg and star Zachary Levi from Shazam!. Shazam! Fury of the Gods is playing in 4,071 locations this weekend, will be playing on IMAX screens and has Thursday preview shows beginning at 3PM. While
Shazam! Fury of the Gods is expected to take first place this weekend; the film isn't expected to come close to matching the $53.51 million debut of Shazam! ($56.83 million when including earlier sneak previews for that film). Although
Shazam! was well liked by audiences, it also seems to be a film that audiences weren't wanting a sequel for all that badly to begin with. And with so many high-profile films being released this March, at least one higher-profile film was bound
to under-perform this month and it appears that Shazam! Fury of the Gods will likely be that film. Unlike the original Shazam!, which went over very well with critics, Shazam! Fury of the Gods is receiving a mixed
reaction from critics, which won't help matters either this weekend. One potential positive for Shazam! Fury of the Gods this weekend is that the film could skew more towards family audiences than usual for a comic book adaptation, especially
given the current lack of options in the marketplace for family audiences. BoxOfficeReport is predicting that Shazam! Fury of the Gods will debut with $31.0 million this weekend. |
| Paramount's Scream VI is coming off of a strong $44.45 million debut last weekend. Last year saw Scream (2022) decline a sharp 59.3 percent in its second weekend to gross $12.21 million. Even with
the significantly larger start this time around, Scream VI may still have a slightly better second weekend percentage hold than Scream (2022) had. In addition to going over well with both critics and audiences,
Scream VI could also benefit a bit this weekend from the expected lackluster start of vShazam! Fury of the Gods and from moviegoers who may want to catch Scream VI this weekend (or catch it again), before Lionsgate's highly
anticipated John Wick: Chapter 4 arrives in the marketplace next weekend. Midweek grosses for Scream VI have also been healthy this week, though Spring Break for some is inflating midweek grosses in general this week. Look for
Scream VI to decline a sizable, but respectable 56.1 percent this weekend to place in second with $19.5 million. |
| MGM's Creed III is also coming off of a strong performance last weekend, as the sports film sequel declined a very reasonable 53.3 percent to take second with $27.25 million. The well-received
Creed III is likely to continue to stabilize this weekend, though the loss of IMAX screens to Shazam! Fury of the Gods will limit that potential stabilization somewhat. And as mentioned with regard to Scream VI,
Creed III is also likely to get a bit a boost this weekend from moviegoers looking to be far less excited about Shazam! Fury of the Gods than they are about John Wick: Chapter 4 next weekend. A very solid 39.5 percent decline would give
Creed III a third place take of $16.5 million this weekend. This weekend Creed III will also zoom past the $115.72 million final domestic gross of 2018's Creed II to become the highest grossing of the Creed films domestically. |
| Last weekend saw Sony's 65 exceed its modest expectations with a third place start of $12.33 million. However, the sci-fi action film has gone over poorly with critics and looks to be receiving a mixed to
negative reception from audiences. On a positive note, 65 looks to be holding onto a fairly high percentage of its average showtimes per location this weekend, due in part to the film not having played on premium screens last
weekend. 65 could decline a sizable 53.8 percent this weekend to take fourth place with $5.7 million. |
| Further down on this weekend's box office chart, places fifth through eighth could be fairly bunched together this weekend. With Shazam! Fury of the Gods not expected to light the box office on fire this
weekend, Disney's Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania could decline a solid 36.9 percent to take fifth with $4.5 million. Universal's Cocaine Bear could decline 31.2 percent to follow closely behind in sixth place with
$4.3 million, Lionsgate's Jesus Revolution could decrease a similar 29.8 percent to place in seventh with $3.6 million and Focus' Champions, which looks to be going over well with audiences, could decrease a very solid 34.0 percent
to take eighth place with $3.4 million. |
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Predictions for this weekend's top 9 films at the domestic box office.
| Rank | Film (Distributor) | Weekend Gross |
Total Gross |
% Change |
Week # |
| 1 | Shazam! Fury of the Gods (Warner Bros. / New Line) |
$31.0 M | $31.0 M | NEW | 1 |
| 2 | Scream VI (Paramount) |
$19.5 M | $78.2 M | -56% | 2 |
| 3 | Creed III (MGM) |
$16.5 M | $128.7 M | -39% | 3 |
| 4 | 65 (Sony / Columbia) |
$5.7 M | $22.3 M | -54% | 2 |
| 5 | Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania (Disney) |
$4.5 M | $206.3 M | -37% | 5 |
| 6 | Cocaine Bear (Universal) |
$4.3 M | $58.9 M | -31% | 4 |
| 7 | Jesus Revolution (Lionsgate) |
$3.6 M | $45.7 M | -30% | 4 |
| 8 | Champions (Focus) |
$3.4 M | $11.6 M | -34% | 2 |
| 9 | Avatar: The Way of Water (Disney / 20th Century) |
$1.9 M | $679.1 M | -28% | 14 |
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