People were insanely unkind: Zachary Levi opens up about Shazam! Fury of the Gods' failure

Zachary Levi has broken his silence about the poor critical reception his DC superhero movie Shazam! Fury of the Gods faced. A sequel to 2019's Shazam!, Fury of the Gods flopped at the box office, earning $133 million on a budget of $90 -$100 million. Today's studio would-be blockbusters need to earn thrice their budget to break even, and thus this sum was a disaster for the David F Sandberg directorial and studio Warner Bros. The film also featured Asher Angel, Jack Dylan Grazer, Rachel Zegler, Adam Brody, Ross Butler, Meagan Good, Lucy Liu, Djimon Hounsou, and Helen Mirren in the cast.

During a recent appearance on The FilmUp Podcast, the actor admitted that he is still somewhat perplexed by the negative reviews of the movie and is unsure about the future of the franchise.

"I don’t know what the future holds for it all because, unfortunately, the second movie was not as well received. The audience score is still quite good, but the critics score was very oddly and perplexingly low, and people were insanely unkind," he said.

Shazam! Fury of the Gods reviews

Currently, on the popular review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes, Shazam!Fury of the Godsgarnered a rating of 49 per cent, which indicated less than half of all 250 critics included in the rating gave it an unfavourable review. The critical consensus reads, "More unfocused and less satisfying than its predecessor, Shazam! Fury of the Gods still retains almost enough of the source material's silly charm to save the day."

The audience score, on the other hand, is much more encouraging: 86 per cent.

Added Levi, “I’ve been a part of things, and as much as I wish they were good, I know they’re OK. I know that they miss a lot. And I’m not saying Shazam! Fury of the Gods is some perfect, you know, Orson Welles-like masterpiece, but it’s a good darn movie.”

Is social mediathe reason behind Shazam! Fury of the Gods'failure?

Zachary Levi went on to blame social media as a factor behind the film’s failure. He mentioned that the toxicity of online hate, trolls, and factions has intensified, and some individuals may actively seek to destroy certain projects simply because they dislike them or the people involved.

“I think even just the world, from the first movie to the second movie, the world has shifted so much. Social media has shifted so much. Hate, online hate and haters and trolls, and factions and all that has just gotten more galvanized in its toxicity. I think there are people who genuinely, unfortunately, want to destroy certain projects because they don’t like them, or they don’t like me, or they don’t like other people involved in them or whatever,” he said.

Dawn of DCU may also be a reason

Shazam! Fury of the Gods released at a time when it was confirmed that the continuity Shazam! franchise was a part of — called DCEU — is being dissolved in favour of James Gunn's DCU. The uncertainty regarding Shazam's fate in the upcoming universe may also have put off fans. If the superhero is not likely going to be around much longer, what is the use of being invested in the character?

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