It’s been several months since “Shazam! Fury of the Gods” flopped at the box office, and star Zachary Levi is still somewhat perplexed by the comic book sequel’s reception. Levi appeared on a new episode of “The FilmUp Podcast” (via IGN) and lamented over people being so “insanely unkind” to his second “Shazam” movie. Critics dismissed the movie (it holds a 49% on Rotten Tomatoes) and it only grossed $57 million at the domestic box office. Worldwide, “Fury of the Gods” didn’t even crack $160 million.
“I don’t know what the future holds for it all because, unfortunately, the second movie was not as well received,” Levi said. “The audience score is still quite good, 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,” he 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.”
Immediately after “Fury of the Gods” bombed at the box office, Levi took to Twitter to cite the film’s marketing as a problem. “This is a perfect family movie, and yet a lot of families aren’t aware of that. Which is just a shame,” he wrote.
“I think even just the world, from the first movie to the second movie, the world has shifted so much,” Levi added on “The FilmUp Podcast.” “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.”
With the DC Universe now being overhauled by James Gunn and Peter Safran, Levi says he has no idea what the future has in store for his Shazam. The superhero was not included in the duo’s first slate announcement for the new DC Universe, which kicks off with 2025’s “Superman: Legacy.”
“I have no idea where we go from here,” Levi said. “I just hope that or believe that history will show… 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 whatever, and it will be this movie that they heard so much shit about and then they will be like, ‘Well, wait a minute.'”
“Shazam! Fury of the Gods” is available to stream on Max.
