'Shazam! Fury Of The Gods' tops North American box office chart on opening weekend

Based on the DC Comics character Shazam, the film is the sequel to "Shazam!," which opened with 53.5 million dollars in 2019 to bring a North American total to 140.5 million dollars.

"Shazam! Fury Of The Gods" continues the story of teenage Billy Batson who, upon reciting the magic word "SHAZAM!," is transformed into his adult Super Hero alter ego, Shazam. The film, directed by David F. Sandberg, stars returning cast members Zachary Levi as Shazam.

The film holds an approval rating of 53 percent based on 174 reviews to date on the review-aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes. It earned a "B+" on an "A+" to "F" scale from audiences polled by the market research firm CinemaScore.

Overseas, "Shazam! Fury Of The Gods" generated 35 million dollars from 77 markets this weekend. It took in 29.7 million yuan (4.3 million dollars) on the Chinese mainland after three days of release, according to Maoyan, a Chinese movie-ticketing and film data platform.

Paramount Pictures and Spyglass Media Group's slasher film "Scream VI" came in second with 17.5 million dollars on its second weekend, pushing the film's North American cume to 76 million dollars.

Rounding out the top three, MGM Studios' sports drama film "Creed III" earned 15.4 million dollars on its third weekend, raising its North American total to 127.7 million dollars.