Zachary Levi says ‘Shazam!’ sequel flopped because of “insanely unkind” reviews
Zachary Levi has blamed “insanely unkind” reviews and “online hate” as the reason behind Shazam! Fury Of The Gods’ poor reception.
Directed by David F. Sandberg, the DC sequel received a mixed response from critics, earning a score of 49 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes. The film went on to perform poorly, grossing $134million at the global box office, compared to $367million for the 2019 original.
Speaking on The FilmUp Podcast, Levi, who plays the lead role, defended Shazam! Fury Of The Gods against the negativity, describing it as “a good darn movie”.
Asked about the likelihood of seeing a sequel, Levi said: “As an experience, I really enjoyed making that movie and I really enjoyed playing that part. I don’t know what the future holds for it all, because, unfortunately, the second movie was not as well-received. 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.
“Listen, I’ve been a part of things and as much as I wish that they were good, I know that they’re OK, 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.”
The actor said the world “shifted so much” in the four-year gap between the first Shazam! and its sequel, adding: “Social media has shifted so much, online hate and haters and trolls and factions and all of that has just gotten more galvanised in its toxicity, and I think that there are people that genuinely, unfortunately, want to destroy certain projects because they don’t like them or they don’t like me or other people involved in them or whatever.”
Levi, however, hopes that Shazam! Fury Of The Gods will be reevaluated in the years to come. “I just hope or believe that history will show,” he added. “It will be one of those things that people will go back, people will watch Fury Of The Gods on home streaming or on a plane or wherever, and it’ll be this movie they so much shit about, and they’ll be like, ‘Well, wait a minute.’ It is what it is.”
The actor previously defended the film in March on Instagram, saying that the negative reception “doesn’t make any sense”.
“It’s disappointing to not be doing as well as I think we deserve to be, because I think we made a really great movie,” Levi said in a video. “But shit happens.”
He added: “Again, all you haters are going to be ‘your movie suck’ but it doesn’t. It legitmately doesn’t. If any of you saw the movie, you’d recognise it doesn’t suck. It’s a really entertaining, really fun movie.”
In a two-star review, NME wrote: “Swapping comedy for quips and action for messiness, the overstuffed, under-lit sequel only ever seems accidentally enjoyable.”
The post Zachary Levi says ‘Shazam!’ sequel flopped because of “insanely unkind” reviews appeared first on NME.
Adam Starkey
NME
