The DC Extended Universe is full of hit and miss titles, and unfortunately, the sequel of Shazam! leans a bit over the miss side. While the two films both are somewhat well-received by the audience, the critics don’t seem to have the same idea as the second, and it received a low score on Rotten Tomatoes, one of the most reliable review-aggregation websites for movie and television enthusiasts. The 2023 sequel, Shazam! Fury of the Gods heavily underperformed at the box office, despite the star-studded cast with Zachary Levi, Lucy Liu, and Helen Mirren.
Amid the negative reviews about the movie flooding on the internet, the main star Zachary Levi breaks the silence recently and addresses them in an interview with The FilmUp Podcast. Let’s see what the actor got to say about Shazam 2’s flop at the box office in this article.
#1. What Zachary Levi has to say about the reviews?
The Rotten Tomatoes and other platforms’ reviews haven’t been kind to Shazam! Fury of the Gods, and Zachary Levi, who portrays the DC Captain Marvel in the franchise, is fully aware of this. Speaking on The FilmUp Podcast, the 42-year-old actor gave us some direct responses regarding the matter, as he doesn’t agree with the negative reviews at all. He also claimed that due to the sequel’s poor reception, he’s not sure if he’ll get to play Shazam again in the future.
“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 very oddly and perplexingly low, and people were insanely unkind.” Levi slammed the negative reviews on the internet.
Source: Warner Bros Pictures
“I’ve been a part of things, and as much as I wish they were good, I know they’re okay. 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.” The actor added.
“I have no idea where we go from here. 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.” He concluded the podcast with a hopeful thought, hoping the audience will give Shazam! Fury of the Gods a chance on other platforms.
#2. How hard did Shazam 2 flop at the box office?
Source: Warner Bros Pictures
Released earlier this spring with much hype and anticipation, however Shazam! Fury of the Gods just failed to live up to the audience’s expectations while also underperforming at the box office. The film only grossed up to $133 million worldwide, barely getting past the production budget of $125 million. It’s even far from reaching the first movie’s $367 million milestone, not to mention the ridiculous amount of negative reviews on the internet.
#3. What caused Shazam! Fury of the Gods’ box office failure?
Source: Warner Bros Pictures
The much-anticipated sequel only manages to snatch a humble score of 49% on Rotten Tomatoes and 60% on IMDb, which also contributes to the underwhelming performance in theaters. Shazam! Fury of the Gods’s score is the complete opposite of the first film, which received a whopping 90% score rated by critics, and is one of the most critically acclaimed DCEU titles in its 10 year run.
Looking at the sequel to DC’s Captain Marvel, we can somewhat understand why Shazam! Fury of the Gods underperformed so heavily. Firstly, the movie, while introducing a variety of new allies and villains, fails to give these characters a decent enough role. It still manages to retain the unorthodox humor and ridiculousness from its predecessor, but at the same time, does very little to innovate or try to bring something new to the table.
Source: Warner Bros Pictures
Secondly, since Shazam! Fury of the Gods along with The Flash are two of the last Movies in the diminishing DCEU, fans’ interest in the two movies would also decrease, which explains the box office failure. The fact that the main character doesn’t grow one bit from the first movie and continues to play the fool in the sequel also doesn’t sit well with critics.
Do you think Shazam! Fury of the Gods is a bad sequel compared to the first movie? Share your thoughts in the comment.