Actor Zachary Levi, who recently starred in Shazam 2, momentarily forgot his involvement in the franchise. During a recent appearance at the Chicago Fan Expo, he slammed what he described as Hollywood’s penchant for churning out lacklustre films.
Per Entertainment Weekly, Levi was seemingly oblivious to the box office failure of Shazam! Fury of the Gods as he encouraged fans to stop watching subpar films. In a statement that lacked self-awareness, he expressed sympathy for cinephiles who felt duped into buying tickets by the misleading advertising of mediocre film fare.
“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. 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 was what I get?'”
Levi advocated for audiences to drive change by insisting on quality content. He proposed that moviegoers let their wallets do the talking by passing on less than stellar films.
“They know that once you’ve already bought the ticket and you’re in the seat, they’ve got your money. 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.”
To be sure, Levi makes a valid point by underscoring the crucial role audiences play in the decisions made by film production companies. The actor’s passionate speech resonated with the crowd, and he received enthusiastic applause.
Levi conceded that Shazam! 2 performed poorly with critics and at the box office, but pointed to its audience score on Rotten Tomatoes as proof of its excellence.
“The audience score is still quite good, but the critics score was, I don’t know, very oddly and perplexingly low, and people were insanely unkind. Listen, I’ve been a part of things and as much as I wish that they were good, I know that they’re okay, I know they missed a lot. I’m not saying Shazam! Fury of the Gods is some perfect Orson Welles masterpiece, but it’s a good darn movie.”
Indeed, Shazam! 2 received an generous audience approval rating of 86 percent in contrast to a dire critic rating of 49 percent. However, Levi raises an interesting point: what factors determine whether a movie is good or bad? Many films that flopped at the box office went on to become cinematic classics, including The Shawshank Redemption, Blade Runner, and Fight Club. Whether or not Shazam! 2 will join their ranks remains to be seen.
Shazam! Fury of the Gods is currently streaming on HBO Max.
Published: Aug 14, 2023 01:32 am