2019's Shazam! proved to be a surprise hit for Warner Bros., earning highly positive reviews while going on to take in close to $370 million worldwide. So, a sequel with the same director and cast must have seemed like a pretty safe bet.
Unfortunately, Fury of the Gods came in way under its opening weekend expectations, and critics were nowhere nearly as taken with the Big Red Cheese's second big-screen outing (it's now dropped to 52% on Rotten Tomatoes).
SHAZAM! FURY OF THE GODS Review: Superhero Sequel Plays It Safe, But Delivers Where It Counts
Director David F. Sandberg has already shared his thoughts on the movie's underperformance, and star Zachary Levi has now weighed-in while responding to a fan on Twitter.
It seems that, in addition to a vocal minority of toxic fans, Levi believes the film should have been marketed as more of a family-friendly adventure.
For the most part, Fury of the Gods is suitable for the whole family, but it is PG-13 for a reason, and contains a couple of moments that might be a little too intense for younger children.
The trailers and TV spots were a pretty accurate representation of the movie, so we're not really sure what promoting it as more of a kid-friendly film would have accomplished.
It can't be easy to see something you worked so hard on fail to resonate with cinema-goers, but at a certain point, you just have to throw up your hands and acknowledge that audiences aren't getting as much out of it as you'd hoped/expected.
Do you feel Shazam! 2 deserves to do better at the box office? Let us know in the comments.
About The Author:
Mark Cassidy is a writer, photographer, amateur filmmaker, and Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic from Dublin, Ireland.