Zachary Levi’s New Comedy Movie Becomes Another Post-Shazam Box Office Disappointment

Harold and the Purple Crayon, a movie sequel to the children’s book of the same name, has become another entry in a string of recent box office disappointments for star Zachary Levi. Levi had a recent hit when he starred in the 2019 DC superhero movie Shazam!. However, he followed that with roles in a string of underperforming movies including the sequel Shazam! Fury of the Gods, which became the second lowest-grossing movie of the entire interconnected franchise. This has now been capped off by the Harold and the Purple Crayon release.

Per Deadline, as of Saturday morning, Harold and the Purple Crayon is projected to earn a 3-day opening weekend of roughly $6 million at the domestic box office. This sees it debut outside of the Top 5 entirely, coming in below the grosses of Inside Out 2 weekend 8, Despicable Me 4 weekend 5, the Trap opening weekend, Twisters weekend 3, and Deadpool & Wolverine weekend 2. This gross also pales in comparison to the movie’s $40 million budget, which likely gives it a break-even point of $80 million or more.

Can Zachary Levi Pull Out Of His Box Office Slump?

The Star’s Grosses Began To Slip In 2021

Although the box office losses of the Harold and the Purple Crayon movie could be considerable, the movie’s performance is a reflection of a general trend for Levi in recent years. His overall box office performance began to slip in 2021 during the time that many movies were failing to get a foothold at the global box office as theaters were reopening after worldwide pandemic-related closures. Below, see a breakdown of how his wide-release theatrical movies have fared since 2021:

While it seems possible that Harold and the Purple Crayon will perform better than The Mauritanian, it is set to have a roughly similar domestic opening to American Underdog‘s $5.8 million, which could indicate that it is on track to earn less than $30 million worldwide by the end of its run. This could potentially be catastrophic for the new Zachary Levi movie given its budget, especially if it cannot find a foothold on streaming after the end of its theatrical run.

It remains to be seen if Levi will find himself on a career upswing after Harold and the Purple Crayon. However, his upcoming projects see him moving away from franchise filmmaking after the one-two punch of Shazam! 2 and Harold, as he will next be seen in the 2025 survival thriller Not Without Hope and the family drama The Unbreakable Boy. While neither movie seems like a tentpole blockbuster, they are lower-budget movies that have stronger chances of earning their money back and setting the star’s prospects back on track before he moves back into bigger titles.

Source: Deadline

Harold and the Purple Crayon

Harold and the Purple Crayon is a fantasy film based on the book of the same name by Crockett Johnson. Zachary Levi stars as Harold, alongside Lil Rel Howery, Zooey Deschanel, and Jemaine Clement. The film revolves around Levi’s character, who can make his drawings come to life with his purple crayon.

Director

Carlos Saldanha

Release Date

August 2, 2024

Studio(s)

Columbia Pictures , Davis Entertainment

Writers

David Guion , Michael Handelman

Runtime

92 Minutes

Main Genre

Adventure

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