The Shazam! review embargo is set to lift this weekend, just about two weeks ahead of the movie's release date in April. Coming on the heels of James Wan's Aquaman, which hit theaters in December and has since grossed over $1.1 billion at the worldwide box office, Shazam! represents a turn for the ongoing DCEU - both literally and figuratively.
The leadership at DC Films changed in late 2017 following the abysmal release of Justice League, and it wasn't much later that Shazam! entered production under the new administration. Since current DC Films president Walter Hamada brought Shazam! to David F. Sandberg when the executive was still working at New Line Cinema, the transition seemed to be seamless. Furthermore, Shazam! is the most lighthearted DCEU movie released - and perhaps the most lighthearted DC movie to date - so it signifies the variety of movies that DC Films is trying to produce. But did it all work out?
Related: Why The Best Moment From The Shazam! Trailers Isn't In The Movie
Shazam!'s social media reactions dropped not too long ago, and they were overwhelmingly positive. The question is, will those reactions translate into good reviews? Thankfully, fans won't have to wait much longer to find out. WB has set the Shazam! review embargo for Saturday, March 23, at 6 pm EDT. It was previously set for 9:30 pm EDT but was recently moved up by three hours. Interestingly, this is the opposite of what happened with the social media reactions, which were pushed back three hours at one point.
What's even more interesting is that this appears to be the earliest review embargo for a DCEU movie to date. So far, most installments - from Man of Steel to Justice League - have had their review embargoes lift just days ahead of their respective movie release dates. Aquaman, on the other hand, broke tradition and had its review embargo lift a whopping 10 days in advance. Given how confident WB was in Aquaman and how confident they appear to be in Shazam!, it makes sense that the Shazam! review embargo will lift 13 days in advance. Whether that means early review embargoes will the new norm for the DCEU remains to be seen.
Positive Shazam! reviews will likely boost the movie's performance at the box office, but as of the time of this writing, Shazam! is tracking for the lowest DCEU opening at the domestic box office. While the same was said for Aquaman, that movie ended up being the first DCEU movie to cross $1 billion. So, low domestic openings may not mean much in the long run.
