Shazam 2 Star Says Snyder Fans Are Happy With Sequel’s Failure, Blames Marketing

Shazam! Fury of the Gods is now out in theaters everywhere… but it is definitely struggling to find an audience. As of writing this, Shazam 2 has earned just $30.1 million domestically and a worldwide total of $64.7M in its opening weekend. That’s a big low for a blockbuster superhero sequel that cost an estimated $110-120M to make – and at the moment, the industry is scrambling for a deeper explanation as to why Fury of the Gods didn’t do better, and whether or not this is all a signal that superhero movie fatigue is setting in. 

Then again, there’s been a lot of discussion about the DC Universe franchise itself. Shazam 2 has always had major odds stacked against it – especially in the realm of public perception. Shazam! 2 was moved up and down the release timeline to help Warner Bros. Discovery adjust to the unprecedented interruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic; the film got bumped from late 2022 to early 2023, which in retrospect, looks like it could’ve been a fatal delay. The announcement last fall that Warner Bros. was forming a whole new DC production imprint, DC Studios, and that the DC Universe franchise was getting a complete reboot, left Shazam! 2 floating out in limbo. Fury of the Gods was a sequel that undeniably had ties to Zack Snyder’s DC films, yet that era is exactly what Warner Bros. Discovery and DC Studios heads James Gunn and Peter Safran want to move on from. 

“SnyderVerse” fans are still very vocal on social media, and they have butted heads with Shazam! star Zachary Levi in the past. That conflict has continued as Shazam! Fury of the Gods has opened in theaters; as one DC fan tweeted to Zach Levi, “There is no denying that at the moment there are many Snyder fans who are happy for the failure of your film and many of them wish that everything that is to come fails just for not continuing with the films of their director.”

Levi had a response to that assessment of the situation, tweeting, “This is also true. Sad, but true. How much that actually affects the box office is anyone’s guess…” 

Before SnyderVerse fans come for Zachary Levi: the actor just as quickly acknowledged that Warner Bros. DIscovery’s marketing campaign for Shazam 2 failed to hit the mark: “I think the biggest issue we’re having is marketing. This is a perfect family movie, and yet a lot of families aren’t aware of that. Which is just a shame.”

It’s arguable whether or not Fury of the Gods would’ve had more appeal if sold as a family feature, since it is a major superhero franchise sequel. But Levi is welcome to his view on the matter. 

Meanwhile, chances for a larger “Shazam Universe” corner of the DCU were alsop squandered by the release of Black Adam last fall. Reports are still coming out about how Black Adam star Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson refused to put more Shazam! connections into the film – arguably robbing the Shazam! franchise of its rightful potential to draw fans into a larger DC movie saga, leading to a big event showdown between Shazam and Black Adam. 

Shazam! Fury of the Gods is now in theaters.