‘Shazam! Fury of the Gods’ Director David Sandberg Surprised With Low Ratings

Shazam Fury of the Gods is out in theatres everywhere now. The film is a sequel to director David F. Sandberg’s first Shazam!, which came out in 2019 and showed the world the live-action adventures of beloved DC comics character Billy Batson, a kid turned superhero. 

While the old film was very well received by both audiences and critics, the same cannot be said about the brand new film that also stars Rachel Zegler and Helen Mirren. The film has received the lowest score the director has ever gotten for any of his films. Sandberg, who has previously directed famed horror films like Anabelle: Creation and Lights Out, was surprised by the reception by critics.

Low Scores

Shazam Fury of the Gods has received a score of 52% from Rotten Tomatoes. The score has dropped a whole percentage in the last few days, which clearly shows how badly the critics are panning the film. The director has been working on just the Shazam film for the past several years. 

The film is better received by fans and audiences since the audience score for the film is about 87%. Perhaps it has to do with critics being tired of the constant influx of superhero films from big-shot studios like Marvel and DC. One could argue that a lot of bad films get made and watched merely because they are films that portray already popular characters.

A great example is Thor. The last Thor film, Love and Thunder, received overwhelmingly negative reviews from both fans and critics. Clearly, more effort needed to be put in. But can the same be said for Shazam? Director David Sandberg clearly doesn’t seem to think so.

“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,” wrote the director on his Twitter handle. 

The film has also suffered financially, being one of the worst outings for a superhero film lately. The film opened at around $30.5 million in the U.S., which is far behind the opening box-office income of the first Shazam! the film, $53.5 million. The sequel is not related to the DC universe Gunn and Safran are trying to create since it was finished before the new DC heads took charge. Regardless, it is a part of DC history, as well as the superhero film history of Warner Bros. 

Discovery is a name that is famously associated with creating bad films out of great concepts and crashing the hopes of fans and creators alike. Will the bad reviews further taint the studios? Only time will tell.

The director is definitely done with making more superhero films for the time being and wants to go back to his signature style of horror movies.

 “I started my Shazam journey right after Annabelle: Creation in 2017, and so it’s been quite a few years of just Shazam,” he said in an interview. “So I’m very ready to move on and go back to horror and just try some other things.” 

He also went on to mention how he wants to leave making superhero films behind for a while later on. His concern for the bad ratings was also shared by actress Rachel Zegler who is a part of the sequel.

“Some people out there and just being… senselessly mean. and it’s unnecessary,” the actress tweeted. “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.” 

Perhaps, the bad ratings are a stepping stone to learning what critics are looking for and what they’re panning for. The film may be fun but is that all everyone is looking for? As long as the audience is happy, maybe, there is salvation.