Actor Zachary Levi has responded to the negative reactions to Shazam: Fury of the Gods.
Levi first portrayed the DC superhero in the 2019 movie Shazam! This movie, directed by David F. Sandberg, received positive reviews, earning a 90% on Rotten Tomatoes. It was followed up with a 2023 sequel which received mixed reactions from critics and bombed at the box office. In comparison, this movie only earned a 49% on Rotten Tomatoes.
In a recent episode of The FilmUp Podcast (via IGN), Levi, who plays Billy Batson/Shazam, commented on the response. “The first one did well enough where they said, ‘Hey, let’s look into making a second one.’ And then they pitched me the idea on it. I thought it was really fun,” Levi recalled. “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 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 shared. “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.”
“I think even just the world, from the first movie to the second movie, the world has shifted so much. 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,” he added. “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.”
“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 s**t about and then they will be like, ‘Well, wait a minute.’ “
Who is in the cast of Shazam: Fury of the Gods?
The movie stars Zachary Levi, Asher Angel, Jack Dylan Grazer, Adam Brody, Rachel Zegler, Ross Butler, Ian Chen, D. J. Cotrona, Jovan Armand, Grace Fulton, Meagan Good, Faithe Herman, Lucy Liu, Djimon Hounsou, and Helen Mirren.
