Shazam! star Zachary Levi isn’t holding back his views on Hollywood releasing low-quality movies in recent years.
Why does Zachary Levi believe that Hollywood makes garbage movies?
Per Entertainment Weekly, Levi made a guest appearance at Chicago Fan Expo where he publicly backed the ongoing strikes for the WGA and SAG-AFTRA. While addressing the strike, Levi revealed how studio executives trick audiences to dig into their wallets to see lackluster movies on the big screen. “I personally feel like the amount of content that comes out of Hollywood that is garbage — they don’t care enough to actually make it great for you guys. They don’t,” Levi said.
He continued, “How many times do you watch a trailer and go, ‘Oh my god, this looks so cool!’ Then you go to the movie and it’s like, ‘This was what I get?’ They know that once you’ve already bought the ticket and you’re in the seat, they’ve got your money. And the only way for us to change any of it is to not go to the garbage. We have to actively not choose the garbage. It’ll help. It’ll help a lot.”
Levi made headlines in March when he blamed Warner Bros.’ marketing department and fans of Zack Snyder for the failure of Shazam! Fury of the Gods. Unlike the first Shazam installment which was well-received by critics and earned over $367 million worldwide, Fury of the Gods had a lukewarm reception and made less than half of its predecessor. The actor’s future as Shazam remains in doubt because of the recent shakeup at DC Studios with new CEOs James Gunn and Peter Safran looking to reset the brand with a new slate of projects.
While the audience appeared to be turned off by the sequel as well as recent DC Universe releases including Black Adam and The Flash, Levi remains proud of Fury of the Gods. “The audience score is still quite good, but the critics score was, I don’t know, very oddly and perplexingly low, and people were insanely unkind,” Levi said. “Listen, I’ve been a part of things and as much as I wish that they were good, I know that they’re okay, I know they missed a lot. I’m not saying Shazam! Fury of the Gods is some perfect Orson Welles masterpiece, but it’s a good darn movie.”
Shazam! Fury of the Gods is now available to stream on Max.
