'Shazam!' Director Looking Forward To 'Captain Marvel' Making All The Money In The World

Captain Marvel has been the subject of some backlash from trolls, and Shazam! director David F. [...]

By Matthew Aguilar

Captain Marvel has been the subject of some backlash from trolls, and Shazam! director David F. Sandberg hopes the big box office receipts the movie pulls in will be able to shut them up.

Since Brie Larson took a stand for women and people of color being more included in film critic circles the film has been the subject of several attempts to diminish its impact when it finally hits theaters. You'll find at any given time several posts about how the film is SJW garbage or offensive to white people, which is, of course, absolutely ridiculous, especially since most of those people saying those things haven't actually seen the film. A new article from THR talked about the press' role in feeding those trolls at times, and Sandberg hopes that the box office the film will bring in will help stem the tide.

Sandberg retweeted the article that stated #CaptainMarvel and why it's time to stop feeding the trolls" with the comment "I for one look forward to Captain Marvel making all the money in the world to shut some of these people up."

Sandberg further expounded on that premise when he was challenged by a fan who said that the movie would only make money because it's part of the MCU and that he loved how Sandberg wanted the film to make money not because it's good but to spite men and women who think it's not up to standards.

"Have you seen it? How do you know it's not up to standard? I'll never understand rooting for the failure of films," Sandberg replied.

For the record, regardless of which Captain Marvel you root for, here's hoping they both knock the box office out of the park.

Larson spoke about the diversifying of critics during a speech at the Crystal + Lucy Awards, highlighting the ratio of white male critics to women and people of color.

"So earlier this week USC Annenberg's inclusive initiative released findings that 67% of the top critics reviewing the 100 highest grossing movies in 2017 were white males," Larson said. "Less than a quarter were white women, and less than 10% were unrepresented men. Only 2.5% of those top critics were women of color. So you're probably thinking right now 'like wow that super doesn't represent the country that I live in and that's because that's true. This is a huge disconnect from the U.S. population breakdown of 30% white men, 30% white women, 20% men of color, and 20% women of color."

"On top of all of this, am I saying that I hate white dudes...no, I am not," Larson said. "What I'm saying is is that if you make a movie that is a love letter to women of color, there is an insanely low chance that a woman of color will have the chance to see your movie and review your movie. And this is also not to mention other people besides white dudes like Star Wars, and would love the opportunity to do a set visit."

Despite specifically saying she doesn't dislike white male critics, some took it to mean just that. She recently expanded on those initial comments, again explaining she wanted more seats at the table.

"What I'm looking for is to bring more seats up to the table. No one is getting their chair taken away. There's not less seats at the table, there's just more seats at the table," Larson told FOX 5.

Captain Marvel lands in theaters on March 8th, while Shazam! hits theaters on April 5th.

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