By Hailey Waller | Bloomberg
“Shazam!” held on to the top spot in North American theaters this weekend, as the superhero film from Warner Bros. easily outdrew a poorly received revival of “Hellboy” from Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. and other new releases.
Warner’s DC Comics film brought in $25.1 million in the U.S. and Canada, Comscore estimated Sunday in an email. That compared with projections of $22.5 million to $26.5 million. “Little,” about a woman who’s transformed into her younger self, opened in second place for Universal Pictures with $15.5 million. “Hellboy” landed in third, with $12 million versus estimates of about $16.8 million.
“Hellboy” was savaged by critics on Rotten Tomatoes, getting recommendations from just 12 percent. That will mean a tough slog for the action-fantasy film and Lionsgate, which is in sixth place in domestic sales this year. The movie stars David Harbour, who brings a more volatile demeanor to the role compared with Ron Perlman, the star of earlier versions. Fans of the Netflix series “Stranger Things” may remember Harbour as the local cop Jim Hopper.
“Shazam!” looks to be on a better trajectory. The film about a foster kid with super powers got a 90 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes and came into the weekend with almost $196 million in worldwide revenue.
Both films will enjoy one more weekend of relatively light competition before Walt Disney Co. kicks off the summer movie season with the April 26 release of “Avengers: Endgame.” That movie has sold five times as many tickets in its first seven days of presales than the most recent Avengers film, “Infinity War,” according to Fandango.
