Shazam! Fury of the Gods director David F. Sandberg revealed his reaction to the opening box office numbers for his latest DCEU adventure, which many are labeling as a flop.
Sadly, Fury of the Gods had the worst domestic opening Thursday of any DCEU film to date. The movie came in just below Birds of Prey’s $4.0 million with a measly $3.4 million.
Its opening weekend, in general, isn’t looking too hot either. According to The Wrap, the film is looking to make $35 million domestically, which is 44% lower than the first film’s $53.5 million premiere.
Needless to say, it’s a disappointing debut for Zachary Levi and the rest of the Shazam Family.
Even more heartbreaking? The director himself doesn’t seem all too surprised about it all.
Shazam!’s Director Reacts to Box Office Numbers
A new Reddit comment from Shazam! Fury of the God’s director, David F. Sandberg, revealed the filmmaker’s reaction to the movie’s underwhelming performance.
After a commenter tagged the Shazam! director in a Reddit thread reporting on box office numbers, Sandberg admitted how “it’s not like this comes as a surprise,” while going on to joke that at least he “got paid all [his] money upfront:”
“No worries. It's not like this comes as a surprise. I saw where this was heading a long time ago. I'll be alright though. I got paid all my money upfront [smiley emoji].”
To further clarify, the director elaborated on Twitter, noting that he “knew what the box office tracking was looking like:”
“The director of 'Shazam' has also been following you on Twitter for a long time… That’s not what I meant. I meant I knew what the box office tracking was looking like. The pay comment was just me being cheeky, hence the [smiley emoji].”
Why Did Shazam: Fury of the Gods Underperform?
Much like David F. Sandberg, most fans aren’t too surprised by Shazam! Fury of the Gods' underperformance—though, he’s likely not very fond of calling it a flop.
For one, the film’s reviews didn’t do it any favor, with the project sinking into Rotten territory. This is a similar fate to what Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania just went through over on the MCU side of the industry.
More prevalent, however, are two factors completely independent of the project’s quality.
For one, the marketing was subpar at best. Most general audiences probably didn’t have any idea that the character was set to have a sequel this month.
Then, most importantly, there’s the topic of James Gunn’s big DCU reboot. With its shadow looming large, many feel that these last few DCEU films simply don’t matter.
As one would suspect, this factor will almost certainly play into the performance of every other DCEU project set to debut this year.
Sadly, this also means that the future of Zachary Levi’s Shazam remains a big question mark. Hopefully, Gunn can offer some sort of information regarding the hero’s fate sooner rather than later.
Shazam! Fury of the Gods is now playing in theaters worldwide.
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