SHAZAM! FURY OF THE GODS Star Zachary Levi Suggests Critics And Toxic Fans Are To Blame For Sequel's Failure

SHAZAM! FURY OF THE GODS Star Zachary Levi Suggests Critics And Toxic Fans Are To Blame For Sequel's Failure

Shazam! Fury of the Gods star Zachary Levi has shared his thoughts on why the sequel was so poorly received, weighing in on the sequel's Rotten Tomatoes score and how toxic fans may have contributed...

By JoshWilding - Jul 27, 2023 05:07 AM EST
Source: The FilmUp Podcast

It's now been several months since Shazam! Fury of the Gods was released in theaters, and while it feels somewhat unkind to say, the sequel has largely been forgotten. 

Given its dismal box office performance, the simple fact is not many people actually watched the sequel to 2019's Shazam! (especially four years after that first instalment was released). Throw in mixed reviews and a general lack of interest in the DCEU brand and the movie was always going to struggle. 

Talking on The FilmUp Podcast, lead star Zachary Levi elaborated on how he feels Shazam! Fury of the Gods was received. "The audience score is still quite good," he says, "but the critics' score was very oddly and perplexingly low, and people were insanely unkind."

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

On Rotten Tomatoes, the sequel was awarded 49% from critics and 86% from more than 2500 verified moviegoer ratings. A mixed response like that from the former group isn't overly perplexing or unkind, but Levi understandably feels like it was too harsh. 

Later in the interview, the actor also pointed to toxic fans on social media possibly driving people away from Shazam! Fury of the Gods.

"I think even just the world, from the first movie to the second movie, the world has shifted so much," he explains. "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."

Shortly after the movie was released, Levi also took aim at Black Adam star Dwayne Johnson and the fact the latest Shazam! movie was unable to use members of the Justice Society. While it's understandable that he's looking to find an explanation for the sequel's failings, larger problems with the brand were likely the main contributing factor. 

What do you think? Let us know in the comments section below. 

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bobevanz
bobevanz - 7/27/2023, 5:11 AM
In today's world, if you have a different opinion, or you simply don't like something.. You're toxic apparently, right doc?
bobevanz
bobevanz - 7/27/2023, 5:11 AM
@bobevanz - ah shucks, he blocked me again lol maybe next time
bobevanz
bobevanz - 7/27/2023, 5:13 AM
You gotta have an opinion
Goldboink
Goldboink - 7/27/2023, 10:04 AM
@bobevanz -

Iger and Zaslav at this point...

SonOfAGif
SonOfAGif - 7/27/2023, 5:15 AM
Zachary Levi is one of those people who no matter how hard you try to explain and use evidence to show them the right answer, They will find every other excuse as to why your answer is wrong and their answer is right.
kg8817
kg8817 - 7/27/2023, 5:20 PM
@SonOfAGif - Boy this was a perfect summation of him. Bravo.
TheWinkler
TheWinkler - 7/27/2023, 5:18 AM
I think Shazam was incredibly mid and the sequel just looked like more of the same.
FireandBlood
FireandBlood - 7/27/2023, 5:20 AM
Nah bro. Your movie failed because the franchise it belongs to is toxic. That and the fact your movie wasn’t that good.
jarcastanon
jarcastanon - 7/27/2023, 5:22 AM
Why he cannot accept that they delivered a bad movie? Specially compared to the previous one, at least for me it really was a letdown and inferior in every way, specially the writing, I really feel that the character became a caricature of what was previously established. And that's without considering the fact that the audiences will not support a dying franchise with a literal death date when Aquaman 2 releases. He can fool himself all he want, but not moviegoers.
Luigi
Luigi - 7/27/2023, 10:26 AM
@jarcastanon - The audience score is the shield that him and Sandberg are going with. Quantamania also has a great audience score and even though I thought it was fine, it's clearly not going to be a classic because the audience score just isn't a legitimate or effective way to measure what audiences are in to.
Superheromoviefan
Superheromoviefan - 7/27/2023, 5:23 AM
does anyone have evidence why it failed?
BlackBolt84
BlackBolt84 - 7/27/2023, 8:51 AM
@Superheromoviefan - Watch the movie, and you'll have all the evidence you'll ever need.
Superheromoviefan
Superheromoviefan - 7/27/2023, 8:55 AM
@BlackBolt84 -
i have, no evidence
dagenspear
dagenspear - 7/27/2023, 5:24 AM
I feel like the title is kinda instigative, when I think what he said had more nuance to it.
ChrisRed
ChrisRed - 7/27/2023, 5:32 AM
Imo the movie wasn't too bad but it wasn't good either. It was just there.
Another DC movie come and gone with no real reason to remember it or give it a second thought.

Would like a sequel/crossover with Black Adam (another movie in the exact same situation) but we all know that's no happening.


For better or worse, the DCEU will end when Aquaman 2 is released.
marvel72
marvel72 - 7/27/2023, 5:32 AM
I didn't like the first movie, so I wasn't going to see the second.
videovac
videovac - 7/27/2023, 5:37 AM
Huh? Zachary went from: "The audience score is still quite good"

to

"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."

I ain't white trash from London but...bruv, which is it? Is it "Fans on the internet etc liked it."...or..."Fans on the internet hated it."?

I don't get this shit. You can't come off, first seemingly dissing the critics while praising the fans, only to then turn around, and say that FANS are toxic and cruel. Yeah they are. Welcome to Earth. Humans "are" bad. But those same "bad" humans, called "fans", gave you a warm and glowing set of reviews. So why now are those same people, internet people, now also simultaneously evil and corrupt?

Rotten Tomatoes community has the good fans and humans but Twitter, Reddit, etc., has the corrupt? I agree, most people are filth, but...it's selective to want to say that fans are good, and then later say fans are bad. I could make that case, but then how would I or anyone make that case while justifying an 86% positive review score FROM - THE - INTERNET.....?

Sorry Zach. Doesn't add up. Humans are capable of being numerous things. But they can't be both......Not at the same time.
ObserverIO
ObserverIO - 7/27/2023, 5:38 AM
Hollywood thinks they can just slap a comic book brand on a movie and cbm junkies will eat it up no matter what. The first movie at least adapted the Geoff Johns/Gary Frank stuff. This was just some rando trash with a 'DC' label slapped on.

Also Snyderverse.

Snydercurse if we're being real about it.
videovac
videovac - 7/27/2023, 5:50 AM
"Hollywood thinks they can just slap a comic book brand on a movie and cbm junkies will eat it up no matter what. The first movie at least adapted the Geoff Johns/Gary Frank stuff. This was just some rando trash with a 'DC' label slapped on." - @ObserverIO

Have you "seen" how people respond to Marvel Studios' output? There's a reason Hollywood thinks that. There's a reason Hollywood puts out 5 shows in one year all based in one universe. There's a reason Hollywood shits out all this content...after content...after content...after content. It's the consumer. The public. You all told Kevin Feige it was ok to release two, and then three, and then more, Marvel-relqted projects a year. What did you think they were gonna do after Avengers Endgame: calm down? Slow down? Slow down their production cycle? Slow down their rate of content released?

Stop acting like the innocent ones in this. Y'ALL did this. I saw 3 Marvel Studios movie's max since 2008 in theaters. Iron Man, Civil War, and Infinity Gaun...War. That's it. Three movies in the span of 11 years. But people had to see every last shitty movie they dropped. Y'all were busy floating them up to the sky, what did you expect them to do, drop? Wanna fall? No, they're gonna continue to want to stay up there.

Y'all told them to continue releasing slop. Y'all gave them the greenlight to increase production, increase product.

Hollywood thinks it because y'all gave them the greenlight. For what it's worth though, I absolutely agree with you considering your points in the second half of your post though, especially the Geoff Johns and Gary Frank bit, as well as Snyder's diseased touch/influence.
ObserverIO
ObserverIO - 7/27/2023, 7:23 AM
@videovac - True, the output issue is probably a factor too. If the factory is churning out product at such a high rate then they can't be putting as much care into each individual movie/tv show. It becomes quantity over quality.
CorndogBurglar
CorndogBurglar - 7/27/2023, 7:33 AM
@videovac - To be fair, the MCU really only had a handful of shitty movies in Phases 1-3.

For me, Captain America The First Avenger, Thor 2, Guardians 2, and Iron Man 3 are really the only MCU films I thought were bad in those phases. The rest were good to great. 4 movies out 20. You're talking like almost everything the MCU has released has been garbage, and that simply isn't true. So you can't really blame the people that went and saw MCU movies in those phases, because they were putting out pretty solid content back to back throughout those phases.

Did it influence other studios to start making superhero movies? Of course it did. But none of them had the same unified and organized approach that the MCU had. Man of Steel was a great movie. Better than most MCU movies. But all the rest of the DC movies have been pretty bad. Wonder Woman was good. Shazam 1 was decent. But that's about it. And then you have crap like Bloodshot that barely even deserves a mention.

The MCU was successful because it was putting out good content that people enjoyed. Whether you agree with that or not doesn't matter. A lot of people were very obviously enjoying it. That can't even be debated. So to blame a studio for putting out a bunch of good content, or to blame the fans for enjoying that good content is a bit silly.

Did it lead to all this oversaturation? Yes, it did. But the bottom line is, if the MCU were still making good content, then they likely wouldn't be losing money right now.

And DC was never really making good content. Less than 50% of their movies have been good. So you're not wrong saying the fans and MCU are responsible for other studios to think they can just make a super hero movie and it will be successful. But it's not like they did anything wrong. MCU made good movies. Fans paid and watched good movies. That's how it works.

But DC never learned their lesson and just kept putting out unorganized schlock that no one could follow. It's a shared universe yet nothing felt shared. And the movies sucked on top of it. The MCU didn't cause that. They didn't cause other studios to make bad movies. They didn't cause DC to release a half-baked shared universe full of crap movies with horrible character representations. That's all DC.
clintthahamster
clintthahamster - 7/27/2023, 2:54 PM
@videovac -
FireandBlood
FireandBlood - 7/27/2023, 5:49 AM
Notice how you don’t see Gal Gadot talking this type of shit. She just takes any type of criticism on the chin, even the [frick]ry like when people body shame her. Class act. This cry baby pussy bitch, not so much.
AnthonyVonGeek
AnthonyVonGeek - 7/27/2023, 5:58 AM
I think he’s confused, it wasn’t critics and fans that turned in a terrible performance as Shazam it was him. 🤷‍♂️
videovac
videovac - 7/27/2023, 6:02 AM
He was better off shitting on The Rock. At least he has a valid point there.

But it was always doomed to go this way. You were, as @ObserverIO, @PlusUltra, @ChrisRed, and @jarcastanon pointed out, always going to eventually fail, because the franchise that you were connected to, created by Zack Snyder and David Goyer, was set up on extremely bad ground, and zero solid foundation.

Sorry @forthas. The shit was dead from Day 1. June 14th 2013. It never had a chance to succeed. Za k Snyder is a successful failure. He's successful at failing. Wonder Woman had a good, liked, first movie. How'd that work out? The second movie bombed and they kicked her (Patty Jenkins) out of the studio.
TyrantBossMedia
TyrantBossMedia - 7/27/2023, 6:05 AM
“Hate, online hate and haters and trolls, and factions“

He just described pretty much everybody that I blocked on this site.
Vigor
Vigor - 7/27/2023, 6:18 AM
@TyrantBossMedia - did you find a way to block yourself
TyrantBossMedia
TyrantBossMedia - 7/27/2023, 8:51 AM
@Vigor - I can help you with that.
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