[Box Office] ‘Shazam!’ Slays Neil Marshall’s ‘Hellboy’ Reboot; ‘Pet Sematary’ Tops $75 Million
In 2004, Universal released the Guillermo del Toro-directed Hellboy adaptation in theaters on a massive $66M budget. It didn’t even top $100M worldwide in its run, which makes it a head-scratcher that there was even a sequel. However, The Golden Army, released in 2008, received an even larger budget ($85M), but did manage $160M globally. Considering both films lost hundreds of millions of dollars, it only makes sense that Universal pulled the plug on any other sequels featuring the great Ron Perlman as Big Red.
Looking at these figures, you can see why Lionsgate and Millenium thought maybe they could revive the franchise with a more modest budget, even if $50M is still pretty high (although, it’s nothing compared to The Meg‘s $150M). If the Neil Marshall-directed Hellboy (read our review) could hit similar numbers, they’d be in good shape. On paper, it’s not that crazy, although it’s well known that Universal has a really strong international distribution arm. With that said, Lionsgate is known for preselling their films internationally to recoup much of their budget. All of these factors make it hard to know just how badly Lionsgate took a hit with Hellboy.
No matter, Shazam! won the box office once again as the R-rated Hellboy reboot opened to an exceptionally weak $12M here in the States. This is remarkably low considering Guillermo del Toro’s Hellboy opened to $23M and The Golden Army to $35M. Being that the reported budget is $50M, we can guesstimate that this film needs, at the very least, $150M globally to break even. Can China come through and save the day? We’ll continue to update as numbers are reported.
As for Paramount Pictures’ new adaptation of Stephen King‘s classic Pet Sematary (read our review), the Kevin Kölsch and Dennis Widmyer-directed remake dropped 59% and added $10M for a $41M domestic total. With fresh international numbers added, it currently sits at an impressive $76.8M worldwide.
As I noted last week, the film needed to top $70M globally in order to be considered a success. If Paramount were to make another film, the producers have expressed a desire to explore a prequel, rather than a sequel.
Pet Sematary follows Dr. Louis Creed (Jason Clarke), who, after relocating with his wife Rachel (Amy Seimetz) and their two young children (Jeté Laurence, Hugo and Lucas Lavoie) from Boston to rural Maine, discovers a mysterious burial ground hidden deep in the woods near the family’s new home. When tragedy strikes, Louis turns to his unusual neighbor, Jud Crandall (John Lithgow), setting off a perilous chain reaction that unleashes an unfathomable evil with horrific consequences.
[Spoilers] ‘Pet Sematary’ versus ‘Pet Sematary’: From Book to Screen
