As expected, Shazam! Fury of the Gods isn’t on course to set the box office alight, and will even set an unwanted record by scoring the lowest-grossing opening weekend for one of the franchise’s PG-13 releases that isn’t arriving in theaters in the midst of the worst global health crisis for generations.
On paper, that doesn’t bode well for the chances of star Zachary Levi and director David F. Sandberg being granted a third installment under the new regime of co-CEOs James Gunn and Peter Safran, but the leading man is taking it all in his stride by deciding to spend his time engaging with trolls on social media.
Levi has proven to be a controversial online presence a couple of times already, but he’s taken a more wholesome route while interacting directly with his Twitter critics. Backlash and negativity keeps getting fired in his direction, but he’s doing the best that he can to try and put a positive spin on what’s shaping up to be another high-profile misfire from the consistently inconsistent superhero saga.
Even the more optimistic Shazam! supporters out there have been capturing the star’s attention, even if Levi is already willing to admit that the future of his candy-colored hero depends entirely on how much money the second chapter earns at the box office, which isn’t going too great at the moment.
The post-credits scenes of Fury of the Gods may have established a roadmap as to how Levi – a close friend of both Gunn and Safran – could continue on in the revamped DCU, but we wouldn’t advise holding your breath just in case.
