James Gunn teased that the yet-to-relaunch DC film universe may not be done with some of its headlining stars including Zachary Levi, Gal Gadot, Ezra Miller, and Jason Momoa. Now it seems this was wishful thinking as Gunn, his partner Peter Safran, and the creatives at Warner Bros. were waiting to see how their latest batch of movies performed.
But following the lackluster success of Black Adam, WB has another turkey on its hands. Shazam!: Fury of the Gods performed even worse after just one weekend. It also received awful critical reviews (53% on Rotten Tomatoes as of this writing), although its audience reaction was better (87%).
But director David F. Sandberg seems to be focusing on the negative. He has announced he is walking away from superhero films entirely, at least for a few years.
On Rotten Tomatoes I just got my lowest critic score and my highest audience score on the same film 🤷♂️ I wasn’t expecting a repeat of the first movie critically but I was still a little surprised because I think it’s a good film. Oh well.
— David F. Sandberg (@ponysmasher) March 20, 2023
He then added:
Just to be clear, I don’t regret even for a second making the Shazam movies. I’ve learned so much and gotten to work with some truly amazing people. Will forever be grateful that I got to direct two of these! They’ve been very challenging but valuable experiences.
— David F. Sandberg (@ponysmasher) March 20, 2023
Sandberg isn’t the only one sick of the online bashing. Rachel Zegler, who joined the franchise in this film as Anthea, also took to social media to lament:
“Some people out there and just being… senselessly mean. And it’s unnecessary. And I know, I know, ‘If you can’t handle the heat…’ and all that nonsense, and you’re right. But our film is actually very good, it’s just cool to hate on fun nowadays. That’s okay. We’re good.”
Sandberg made his name on low-budget horror movies like Lights Out and Annabelle: Creation. It’s a very different experience to make a small intimate picture like those than it is to jump to big-budget franchise pics like Shazam!. As Sandberg expressed, he spent six years working on these two pictures and that seems like enough for him.
Most superhero franchises are conceived of consisting of at least three movies. With the shakeups at Warner Bros./DC, it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen here.
Did you see Shazam!: Fury of the Gods? Does it deserve the bashing it’s taking online? Are you upset that there won’t be a third one?
