The target audience is generally more receptive to a movie aimed at them than critics tend to be, but the wildly polarizing reactions to Shazam! Fury of the Gods have left director David F. Sandberg in a conflicting situation.
With a current Rotten Tomatoes score of 52 percent, the blockbuster superhero sequel is comfortably the worst-reviewed entry in his filmography, lagging way behind the 70, 75, and 90 percent accrued by Annabelle: Creation, Lights Out, and Zachary Levi’s first outing as the title hero respectively.
However, it also happens to hold the highest audience approval rating in the Sandberg back catalogue, with a stellar 88 percent handily beating out the 82 percent of the opener, as well as the Conjuring spinoff’s 68 and the 61 of his feature-length debut. Suffice to say, the filmmaker isn’t quite sure what to make of it.
Sandberg’s openness and honesty should be commended, even if people took him a little too literally when he joked that he wasn’t bothered by Fury of the Gods flaking at the box office when he’d been paid upfront. Of course, he’d have much rather seen it perform in line with its predecessor – or even remotely close to early projections – but it just goes to show the fickle nature of the comic book adaptation that a single two-hour romp can be both the best and worst-received project the people behind it can put their name to.
With the chances of Shazam! 3 growing slimmer by the day, maybe that long-awaited return to horror is on the cards sooner rather than later.
