Zachary Levi Agrees Many Zack Snyder Fans Are Happy ‘Shazam 2’ Failed, Says the Sequel’s Marketing Was ‘The Biggest Issue’

Zack Sharf
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Zachary Levi is the latest member of the “Shazam! Fury of the Gods” family to weigh in on the film bombing at the box office. The DC tentpole earned just $30 million in its domestic box office debut, well below the $53 million the original “Shazam!” opened with in 2019. It was a huge financial loss considering “Fury of the Gods” cost north of $110 million to make and another $100 million to market. Levi heads the franchise as the eponymous superhero.

While Levi is not blaming Zack Snyder fans for the “Fury of the Gods” box office miss, he did acknowledge on Twitter after the film’s opening that many Snyder fans wanted the sequel to fail as a kind of revenge against Warner Bros. for dropping Snyder’s DC Universe. James Gunn and Peter Safran are now in charge of the DC Universe and are rebooting it with films such as “Superman: Legacy,” which will not feature Snyder’s Superman actor Henry Cavill.

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“There is no denying that at the moment there are many Snyder fans who are happy for the failure of your film and many of them wish that everything that is to come fails just for not continuing with the films of their director,” one fan wrote to Levi on Twitter.

“This is also true,” Levi responded. “Sad, but true. How much that actually affects the box office is anyone’s guess. But I think the biggest issue we’re having is marketing. This is a perfect family movie, and yet a lot of families aren’t aware of that. Which is just a shame.”

Not only did “Fury of the Gods” whiff at the box office, but it also struck out with critics. The sequel currently boats a 53% on Rotten Tomatoes.

“I wasn’t expecting a repeat of the first movie critically, but I was still a little surprised because I think it’s a good film,” director David F. Sandberg wrote in his own Twitter thread reacting to the film’s reception. “Oh well. As I’ve been saying for a while now I’m very eager to go back to horror (as well as trying some new things). After six years of Shazam I’m definitely done with superheroes for now.”

“Just to be clear, I don’t regret even for a second making the ‘Shazam’ movies,” Sandberg continued. “I’ve learned so much and gotten to work with some truly amazing people. Will forever be grateful that I got to direct two of these! They’ve been very challenging but valuable experiences. One thing I’ve really been looking forward to is disconnecting from the superhero discourse online. A lot of that stresses me out so much and it will be nice not having to think about that anymore.”

Rachel Zegler, who stars in “Fury of the Gods” as Athena, also took to Twitter to weigh in on the film’s critical bashing. “Hey our film is actually really good!” Zegler wrote. “But mostly I just absolutely loved making it and the people I met whilst doing so. Go see it! Give it a chance. We have an 85% audience score for a reason.”

Zegler continued, “Some people out there [are] just being… senselessly mean. And it’s unnecessary. And I know, I know, ‘If you can’t handle the heat…’ and all that nonsense, and you’re right. But our film is actually very good. It’s just cool to hate on fun nowadays. That’s okay. We’re good.”

“Shazam! Fury of the Gods” is now playing in theaters nationwide.

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