As Shazam! gets closer to its premiere, the latest entry in the DC Extended Universe is soaring to new heights on Rotten Tomatoes.
After launching to strong early reviews, Shazam! has been "certified fresh" by the review aggregator, which is essentially its biggest seal of quality. Following praise from most critics, the film seems to have settled at around 93% positive reviews on the website after 81 reviews. While slightly lower than its initial 95%, that is still an excellent score for the film that appears to be a breath of fresh air within the superhero genre according to the critics.
As the website's critical consensus states it, the film is "an effortlessly entertaining blend of humor" that's filled with the kind of "joyous wish fulfillment" that defines the superhero genre.
Assuming that the film's rating doesn't change drastically, Shazam!'s 93% positive rating is the same as director Patty Jenkins' 2017 film Wonder Woman, which set a critical high-water mark for the DCEU. Both of those ratings are considerably higher than the other DCEU films, Aquaman (65% positive), Justice League (40% positive), Suicide Squad (27% positive), Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (27% positive), and Man of Steel (56% positive.)
As Aquaman's widespread success shows, a film's Rotten Tomatoes score doesn't always necessarily reflect how the audience will respond, but like Wonder Woman, it looks like Shazam! is a step in the right direction for Warner Bros. as the media giant tries to get the DCEU back on course.
The film recently screened exclusively for Fandango VIP members, which allowed fans to purchase tickets to screen the film two weeks early, much like the ticket retailer had done with last year's Aquaman. Unsurprisingly, Shazam! outpaced the former and went on to earn $3.3 million in preview screenings.
When it's officially released next weekend, Shazam! is expected to take in approximately $40 million domestically, however, as word of mouth continues to grow that number could easily grow in the next week.
Directed by David F. Sandberg, Shazam! stars Asher Angel as Billy Batson, Zachary Levi as Shazam, Mark Strong as Dr. Thaddeus Sivana, Djimon Hounsou as the ancient wizard Shazam, Grace Fulton as Mary Bromfield, Jack Dylan Grazer as Freddy Freeman, Ian Chen as Eugene Choi, Jovan Armand as Pedro Peña, Faithe Herman as Darla Dudley, Cooper Andrews as Victor Vásquez and Marta Milans as Rosa Vásquez. The film hits theaters April 5.