SHAZAM! FURY OF THE GODS Director On Decision To Include A Certain Cameo In The Marketing - SPOILERS

SHAZAM! FURY OF THE GODS Director On Decision To Include A Certain Cameo In The Marketing - SPOILERS

A pretty big surprise was spoiled in a TV spot for Shazam! Fury of the Gods prior to the movie's release, and director David F. Sandberg has now weighed in on the marketing decision...

By MarkCassidy - Mar 19, 2023 02:03 PM EST

Shazam! Fury of the Gods is now in theaters (you can check out our review here), and if you're not online very much and managed to avoid a recent TV spot, you may have been surprised to see a certain DCEU character show up towards the end of the movie.

Spoilers ahead.

Though her involvement had pretty much been confirmed via tie-in merchandise, anyway, the teaser in question blatantly spoiled a fairly significant cameo from Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman, who shows up after the final battle to resurrect (you didn't think he'd stay dead, did you?) Billy Batson after he makes the ultimate sacrifice to save the city.

While speaking to THR, director David F. Sandberg admitted that he was "surprised" by the decision to show Diana in the spot.

"I was just getting back from the press tour, and I got a text, asking, “Hey, why spoil Wonder Woman?” And I was like, “What are you talking about?” So I didn’t know, and they did apologize for not keeping me in the loop. But I understand why they did it, because they wanted to get people to see the movie. So, of course, I understand, but it’s a shame because these days, the only audiences who get to see these movies as intended are test audiences. When they saw the movie, they didn’t know Rachel Zegler’s character was a goddess, for example. For them, it was actually a twist that worked, but then, once marketing started, you have to show her in her goddess clothes and that whole thing is out of the bag. So no one is really going to be surprised that she’s a goddess undercover in a school."

Prior to Gadot's appearance being confirmed, we had heard that the sequel would feature a "fake Wonder Woman," who turned out to be part of a dream sequence with Batson imagining himself on a date with the stunning Justice Leaguer.

The Wizard then infiltrates the dream, and we see Djimon Hounsou's face superimposed into model Taylor Cahill's body.

So, was Gadot always going to be part of the movie?

"Right from the start and from the first script. She was always supposed to be in it, but I didn’t believe it was going to happen because of what happened on the first movie where we had to do a headless Superman cameo," recalls Sandberg. "I thought that was going to happen here, too. So I started to think, “Okay, when she can’t do it or when it falls apart, how do we bring Shazam back to life? Will we have to bring Helen Mirren’s character, Hespera, back? What are we going to do?” But then it actually did happen, which was great, because then we could poke fun at the headless cameo of the first movie, with the Wizard dream sequence and things like that. But we never could have done that if we didn’t actually have Gal at the end because people would’ve been furious."

What did you make of Wonder Woman's appearance? Was it spoiled for you beforehand? Drop us a comment down below.

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AmazingFILMporg
AmazingFILMporg - 3/19/2023, 2:06 PM
This film only made 66 million WW 😑.....



Forthas
Forthas - 3/19/2023, 2:14 PM
@AmazingFILMporg - Un-Freakin-believable!!!!!!
TheWalkingCuban
TheWalkingCuban - 3/19/2023, 2:18 PM
@AmazingFILMporg - 😲
AmazingFILMporg
AmazingFILMporg - 3/19/2023, 2:21 PM
@Forthas -


Damage control already setting in with people saying Gunn should not have announced a new slate as if that's the reason people didn't see this film.


It was a bad film and people don't trust the DC brand. That's it. People don't know about the DC reboot. Only fanboys💁
soberchimera
soberchimera - 3/19/2023, 2:08 PM
Feige when he finds out about that Michael Gray cameo...
AmazingFILMporg
AmazingFILMporg - 3/19/2023, 2:13 PM
@soberchimera - why would he care?
Blergh
Blergh - 3/19/2023, 2:14 PM
@soberchimera - Charlie Day as Riddler, Glenn Howerton as Lex Luthor, Rob McElhenney as Hal Jordan, Kaitlin Olsen as Bird Lady...erm Harley Quinn, Danny DeVito as Penguin
soberchimera
soberchimera - 3/19/2023, 2:17 PM
@AmazingFILMporg - Watch the movie and you'll see.
DenimChicken
DenimChicken - 3/19/2023, 3:18 PM
@Blergh - I thought it would be funny if that crew played the fantastic four (especially since Matt shakman is directing). Danny’s the thing, bird is invisible woman, Mac is reed, Charlie is torch, and Dennis as Doom.
Blergh
Blergh - 3/19/2023, 4:01 PM
@DenimChicken - If we switch Rob and Glenn that'd be perfect. I wouldn't buy Rob as Reed but as Torch or Doom.
Titan417
Titan417 - 3/19/2023, 4:12 PM
@Blergh - maybe Jonah Hill as the penguin
Ha1frican
Ha1frican - 3/19/2023, 2:19 PM
It was pretty obvious reaction to the BO projections, same as everyone talking about Henry Cavill in Black Adam
ObserverIO
ObserverIO - 3/19/2023, 5:11 PM
@Ha1frican - And it worked out just as well as that did.
demery
demery - 3/19/2023, 5:59 PM
@ObserverIO - At least she had a reason being there for the little screen time she had, unlike Henry who was just there for The Rock to appear like a saint to those who wanted to see him back as Superman and the conflict between Cavill and WB over his time in the part.
ObserverIO
ObserverIO - 3/20/2023, 5:33 AM
@demery - This is true. The Black Adam debacle was messy.

Both were kinda pointless. Audiences didn't show up for either Cavill or Gadot. Nobody cares about the DCEU Justice League anymore. The only real draw for The Flash is Keaton's Batman. And to a lesser degree, Calle's Supergirl.
Forthas
Forthas - 3/19/2023, 2:19 PM
So WB's marketing is not communicating with the production team...on multi million dollar films...


DenimChicken
DenimChicken - 3/19/2023, 3:23 PM
@Forthas - lol. The director himself didn’t know. It’s crazy.
jst5
jst5 - 3/19/2023, 2:29 PM
This movie is simply not good...I feel for the people who have yet to see it and plan to pay money to see it...it's a waste of time and money just warning you before you make the jump!I'm a massive DC fan ...sure hope this DCU works...not getting my hopes up though!The DCEU has been BAD!!!!
noahthegrand
noahthegrand - 3/19/2023, 2:36 PM
Just saw the movie. A bit long but I really liked it
MosquitoFarmer
MosquitoFarmer - 3/19/2023, 2:42 PM
I appreciate that honesty over pretending it was his own idea, whether they would have asked him to or not.
MCUKnight11
MCUKnight11 - 3/19/2023, 2:57 PM
Haven't seen it yet but I will try going to try to catch it ASAP. Bad advertising may not be the sole factor for its underperformance, but it's definitely one of the biggest. I sincerely hope that Blue beetle doesn't get done this dirty by having all the resources going to the Ezra miller led-movie instead but with how well my year has gone, it'll probably perform worse than this.
slickrickdesigns
slickrickdesigns - 3/19/2023, 3:47 PM
The movie is a little better than Black Adam. There was a couple of times where I got bored watching jokes that weren’t hitting. Kids in my theater seemed to enjoy it. If the DCU is being rebooted they should’ve let Billy die at the end.
Titan417
Titan417 - 3/19/2023, 4:20 PM
Overall I liked this movie. I hope they do make good with Shazam and the new DCU. There is still a whole more to be explored. I’d give this movie a good 6
SonOfAGif
SonOfAGif - 3/19/2023, 8:26 PM
Onto Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3.
RealTurner
RealTurner - 3/19/2023, 9:27 PM
"But I saw him alive with Wonder Woman in the trailers!"

That feeling is why people don't bother coming to your movie. This movie, the next movie, it doesn't matter. Marketing that gives away the end of your movie as you watch it just wears people down.

It's not about whether or not he dies. He's about how he gets around that problem, and the character moments it creates. If you've been given the solution prior to going into the movie (even if you only realize it partway through), that's awful marketing.

From the tone of the clip, I presumed it was final reel stuff, but for her to also be that important in the story, and baked in with red herrings along the way... wow. Don't they do these things for the ripple of buzz when people see it and are surprised in the theater? It makes me want to see it less, not more.
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