Fandango and Warner Bros. are teaming up to hold early screenings for DC's Shazam! two weeks ahead of the movie's theatrical release in April. Zack Snyder's Man of Steel got the DC cinematic universe going in 2013 and paved the way for Wonder Woman and Aquaman solo movies, both of which were big hits at the box office and generally played well with critics and audiences alike. The franchise seems to have found its groove with these non-teamup films and will continue the trend with Shazam!, starring Asher Angel as Billy Batson and Zachary Levi as Shazam: the superhero that Billy transforms into by calling his name.
Shazam! has already started screening for critics and the response has been quite positive so far, as WB is no doubt pleased to hear. The studio has been doing its part to promote the film by releasing more Shazam! trailers and TV spots, just a few weeks before the movie hits theaters. They've since revealed that they're teaming up with Fandango to host early screenings for the film, for those who'd like to get their Shazam! on as soon as possible.
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WB and Fandango have announced that they will be hosting Shazam! screenings at 1,200 theaters on Saturday, March 23, about two weeks before the film hits theaters (starting with Thursday preview screenings on April 4). Tickets are now on sale and can be bought HERE, but are exclusively on-sale for Fandango's VIP members.
Lately, more and more studios have started to embrace this practice of screening their films early in order to build more positive buzz around them. WB did just that when it showed Aquaman in over 1,200 theaters a week early last December and took in nearly $3 million from the sneak peek screenings. Sony did something similar when it screened Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle ahead of its theatrical release in December 2017, and DreamWorks Animation and Universal only just screened How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World three weeks early last month. The strategy has worked well in all these cases, allowing the movies to both pad their opening weekend grosses and get more people buzzing about them shortly before their arrival (even as their marketing efforts intensify).
Shazam! should also benefit from the early screenings, when it comes to both word of mouth and its projected box office opening. The film isn't expected to scale the same commercial heights as Wonder Woman and Aquaman, but it doesn't need to, either. Shazam! is reported to have cost about $90 million to produce, which (for a modern superhero blockbuster) is a pretty modest sum. It's also much more family-friendly than its opening weekend competition (namely, Pet Sematary) and may yet manage to rule the box office for a few weeks in April, before Avengers: Endgame launches at the end of the month.
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Source: Fandango
