Shazam! Fury of the Gods is looking at a poor box office projection that might spell doom for those who hoped Zachary Levi's hero would be sticking around in the new DC Universe. Following DC's rebranding from the old DCEU to the new DCU under co-CEOs James Gunn and Peter Safran, uncertainty has been instated where the future of actors such as Levi is concerned.

Henry Cavill's exit from the role of Superman was the first major change DC announced in its casting department after the new management started, and that move proved that no actor was guaranteed to have a role in the new DC Universe. While Shazam! Fury of the Gods was explained to be easy to connect well with the DC Universe — thanks to Shazam being in his own corner of DC — by Gunn during the recent DCU Chapter One slate announcement, the movie's poor box office projection might kill this version of the hero's chances of continuing at DC.

Related: 8 Big Questions We Still Have After Gunn's DCU Chapter 1 Announcement

How Shazam 2's Box Office Projection Compares To The First Movie

The domestic opening weekend for 2019's Shazam! saw the origin film rake in $53.5 million at the box office, which the currently projected $43 million to $52 million range for Shazam! Fury of the Gods falls short of. Shazam! went on to total $140.5 million domestically and over $366 million globally. While the new Shazam movie could be DCU canon, the subpar projection might put a damper in the move, especially since the first film did not do extremely well at the box office either — though Avengers: Endgame did cut Shazam!'s theater legs short.

Shazam 2 Box Office Projection Might Not Mean Shazam 3 Happening In DCU

James Gunn in front on Shazam (Zachary Levi), who is holding up a Shaka hand signal

As Gunn and Safran move away from the old DCEU, the creators are likely looking at what worked and what did not pan out in order to shape up the new DC Universe to be the very best it can be. As Gunn himself said, Shazam!'s corner of DC was pretty much self-contained, safe for some references in lines and visual gags to other DC heroes — such as the headless Cavill Superman cameo — which served as Easter eggs in the DC movie. Levi's Shazam could be headed on the same path as Cavill's Superman.

While Cavill's Superman had quite a following, the character was present in a number of movies that bombed at the box office, which might have played a role in Gunn and Safran's decision to reboot the Man of Steel with Superman: Legacy. A report from last year also mentioned that Warner Bros. Discovery — DC's parent company — was low on resources to market their upcoming movies. With DC's focus currently being on the DCU reset movie The Flash, Shazam! Fury of the Gods has been set aside a little, in a move that has affected the film's box office projections and the likelihood of the DC movie being DCU canon.

MORE: Why Shazam’s Suit Is Black In Fury of the Gods (Is He Black Adam?!)

Key Release Dates