Zachary Levi Urges Fans to Not Go See “Hollywood Garbage”

A week after talking about how “dumb” the rules of the SAG-AFTRA strike are (and subsequently walking those comments back), Zachary Levi is now taking aim at the current landscape of movies in Hollywood. Once again, Levi took to the stage of a fan convention over the weekend, unable to talk about the movies he has made in the past or the ones he has coming out. His attention apparently shifted to the movies currently being released in theaters and online, and how quite a lot of it is, in his opinion, “Hollywood garbage.”

Levi told fans attending the Chicago Fan Expo on Saturday that he thinks the quality of most of the “content” coming out of the entertainment industry is subpar, and that those making it just don’t care to make it any good. He didn’t go as far to mention any films specifically.

“I personally feel like the amount of content that comes out of Hollywood that is garbage —they don’t care enough to actually make it great for you guys. They don’t,” Levi told the crowd in attendance (per EW).

“How many times do you watch a trailer and go, ‘Oh my god, this looks so cool!’ Then you go to the movie and it’s like, ‘This is what I get?’ They know that once you’ve already bought the ticket and you’re in the seat, they’ve got your money,” he continued. “And the only way for us to change any of it is to not go to the garbage. We have to actively not choose the garbage. It’ll help. It’ll help a lot.”

Levi’s latest film, Shazam! Fury of the Gods, arrived in theaters earlier this year to very little fanfare. The film received mixed reviews from critics and failed to perform well at the box office, making less than $58 million domestically. Levi has noted that the fan score on Rotten Tomatoes is an 86%, much higher than the score from the critics. But there were only about 2,500 ran reviews submitted to the site, and that positive reaction wasn’t enough to get more people to see the movie in theaters.

Zachary Levi’s Strike Comments

Earlier this month, Levi talked about how “dumb” the rules of the SAG-AFTRA strike were, bemoaning that he couldn’t talk about his previous work. The actor put out a statement after those comments made the rounds online, confirming that he fully sports the unions and the strikes.

“It’s come to my attention that an offhand remark I made in jest last weekend is being taken out of context. So let me be very clear. I fully support my union, the WGA, and the strike,” Levi said in his statement. “I remain an outspoken critic of the exploitative system that us artists are subject to work in since I started my journey in this business 25 years ago. This strike is necessary to protect ourselves, our writers, and all those working in production who make the industry move.”

Levi’s next film is a reboot of the Spy Kids franchise, Spy Kids: Armageddon, arriving on Netflix in September.