Months after its release, Shazam! Fury of the Gods star Zachary Levi is still frustrated by many of the film’s negative reviews.
Speaking on the FilmUp show, the actor lamented the Shazam sequel’s poor critical reception, stating that he felt many reviewers were unfair to the DC Universe sequel. “I mean, the audience score is still quite good, but the critic score was, I don’t know, very oddly and perplexingly low and people were insanely unkind,” Levi said.
The star went on to say that he believes the world is a very different place since the release of the original live-action Shazam movie, noting that he believes social media and the internet have “galvanized” those who wished to see both him and Fury of the Gods fail. “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,” Levi concluded.
Shazam 2 Didn’t Stick the Landing
Despite the first Shazam movie proving to be one of DC’s more praised projects, the sequel failed to move the needle both critically and commercially. An extensive marketing campaign wasn’t enough to put the sequel into the public’s line of sight, resulting in a worldwide box office taking of just $133.4 million, roughly $200 million less than the original.
Many think James Gunn and Peter Safran‘s reboot of the DCU played a key role in Fury of the Gods’ downfall as fans believe the movie isn’t essential viewing to understand what happens next in the franchise. As for Levi’s future in the role of the titular hero, the actor has stated that while he would love to feature in more DCU films, he’s completely in the dark when it comes to what’s next for Shazam.
Shazam! Fury of the Gods is now available to stream on Max.
