‘Shazam!’ Solidifies a Superhero Turnaround at Warner Bros.
LOS ANGELES — Warner Bros. has finally
earned back the benefit of the doubt when it comes to its all-important
superhero movies: “Shazam!” (present
perfect)became the studio’s third nonsequel comic-book hit in a row over
the weekend, arriving to applause from critics and stout ticket sales of nearly
$156 million worldwide.(simple present)
“We really want these movies to stand on
their own, with filmmakers best suited to the characters,”(simple present) Toby Emmerich, chairman of the Warner Bros.
Pictures Group, said by phone on Sunday morning.(simple past) “We’re all feeling deservedly really good.”
“Shazam!” was the No. 1 movie in North
America, collecting $53.5 million over the weekend, according to Comscore,
which compiles box-office data.(past
continous) Paid previews in partnership with Fandango in
late March, designed to prompt positive chatter online, added $3.33 million.(simple past) “Shazam!” also had a solid
start in countries like Mexico and Russia.(simple
present)
Second
place at the domestic box office went to a remake of “Pet Sematary”
(Paramount), based on the novel by Stephen King. It took in an estimated $25
million.(simple past) Disney’s
big-budget “Dumbo” trundled along in third place, selling $18.2 million in
tickets, for a sad two-week total of $76.3 million.(simple past)
