This is an interesting one as Shazam: Fury of the Gods director David F. Sandberg comments on poor box office estimates for opening weekend. As per Friday it was estimated that the Shazam sequel would earn around $30M dollars across its opening weekend domestically. Now, even if you don’t follow box office at all, I’m sure you know that’s low for a superhero movie’s opening weekend.
However I’m not sure if that would be a story in of itself. Opening weekend flops usually mean poor marketing, or simply lack of interest in the concept from fans (more on that later). Though I do expect the the lads on Daily COG (Kyle and Manny) will be getting into all Monday’s figures for this weekend as they always do. Sadly, so far word of mouth isn’t what I’d call strong, so it is unlikely Shazam will have one of those second week boosts from good word of mouth. However, you never know?
The interesting part of this story is that after being tagged by another user on Reddit, director David F. Sandberg chose to comment flippantly about the poor box office. Now, I’ll start by saying that I don’t think tagging a director in their own movies poor performance is a very nice thing to do. That being said, I’m not sure I love the response either despite honesty being refreshing.
You can see the following social media post highlighting Sandberg’s Reddit comment.
#Shazam 2 director, David F. Sandberg, jokes/pokes fun at people tagging him in posts about the films box office!⚡️🐐
“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 🙂”. pic.twitter.com/vMLyll83Hm
— Shazam Updates (@ShazamNews) March 18, 2023
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As for where this was going? I could make the assumption that many will. Perhaps Sandberg is referring to the fact interest will ave slowed following the DCU announcement. With the whole franchise getting a reboot and no current signs that Fury of the Gods story will ‘matter’ in the DCU, did that cause fans to lose interest? Or, is Sandberg instead referring to something else that clued him in that this movie would flop?
However the ‘I still got paid’ comment comes off as slightly inappropriate humor to me this early on. If this comment was made at the end of the theatrical run, then I probably would not care. However I’m not sure this is going to help this movie find an audience. I don’t want to rag on Sandberg because this is just my own personal opinion. I am also not fully as aware of all the factors Sandberg himself is. Maybe I’m reading this wrong and if so I accept that. Still, I’m not sure I’d use this tactic if the opportunity arises again in the future.
This would also tell me Shazam‘s future looks bleak. Why continue to support a franchise that performed this badly if you’re running DC? Star Zachary Levi tried to encourage fans to give it a go in the post below.
It’s all gonna come down to box office, bubba. Just like every other movie ever made. 😉 So, let’s encourage folks to go treat themselves to a night out at the movies watching @ShazamMovie, then there won’t be a bummer to worry about. 🤗 https://t.co/xRPMoehYCw
— Zachary Levi (@ZacharyLevi) March 17, 2023
Time to ask what you readers think as Shazam: Fury of the Gods director David F. Sandberg comments on poor box office estimates for opening weekend? As always, leave your thoughts on Sandberg’s comments below. Are you seeing Shazam: Fury of the Gods at theatres. or have you already?
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