Fischer: Modest Expectations

By Travis Fischer

I’m writing this column ahead of going out to see “Shazam! Fury of the Gods.”

Judging from the box office reports surrounding this movie, I may be about the only one. Opening to an underwhelming $30.5 million and dramatically dropping from there, it doesn’t look like the second entry in the alternative-Superman franchise is catching the world by storm.

So, once again, we must ask if the middling reviews and lackluster ticket revenue marks the end of the super hero movie genre as we know it.

Has the dreaded “super hero fatigue” finally taken its toll?

I donno, maybe?

There are a lot of super hero movies out there. That can’t be denied. It will take nine trips to the movie theater to watch the various Marvel and D.C. comic book adaptations coming out this year. The latest, and probably last, Shazam movie is just the second on the list.

That’s a lot, but is the failure of one really an omen about the rest?

I kind of doubt that lack of interest in watching Zachary Levi play a big kid with super powers is going to make an impact one way or the other.

Besides, what expectations for “Shazam! Fury of the Gods” were reasonable to begin with?

Shazam, or Captain Marvel for the originalists out there, is a niche character at best and part of the last dying gasps of the DC Extended Universe. There isn’t a large pre-existing fanbase nor does the movie contribute to an overarching storyline. That’s two fairly critical components in the formula that generally turns even the most mediocre super hero movies into money printing machines.

With that in mind, the Shazam sequel is probably doing as well as can be expected.

Is that good enough? Not every movie has to be a billion dollar hit, but they do have to at least break even. That’s for the bean counters to decide I suppose.

Regardless, the super hero movie machine is a colossus that isn’t going to rapidly adjust course. These studios make their plans years in advance. I doubt that anything happening today is going to change whatever Kevin Feige and James Gunn intend for the foreseeable future.

What I can predict is that we’ll probably be hearing warnings about “super hero fatigue” for the remainder of the year.

Let’s face it, the 2023 slate isn’t of the highest tier. Sure, the next few months will be stacked with the return of Michael Keaton’s Batman in “The Flash” and the long awaited “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” but the rest of the year we’ll be seeing a lot more Shazam-like entries. “The Marvels,” featuring the other Captain Marvel; “Blue Beetle,” another niche D.C. hero; “Kraven the Hunter,” yet another attempt by Sony to make franchises out of Spider-Man villains; and “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom,” which will likely be our last look at Jason Momoa in the green and gold swimsuit.

I’ll go to all of these movies, but we’re not getting a lot of cultural landmarks out of them.

Just some fun movies.

That’s okay, right?

Travis Fischer is a news writer for the Charles City Press and will probably wait for the cheap tickets on some of these.