Shazam! Fury of the Gods is the sequel to Shazam!, continuing the story of Billy Batson and his family as a new set of foes look to take him and his world down. We are now almost two weeks past opening weekend. As I’m sure you’ve heard by now, the film is not doing so hot at the box office. In fact, Shazam! Fury of the Gods had a 68% dropoff in box office numbers from week one to two, the third worst for DC, and it is causing many to ask: Are superhero movies in trouble?
The short answer in my opinion is no, but before diving into that, I need to talk about Fury of the Gods. Before I start, I think this was a fine movie. Maybe hearing all the news about it bombing dropped my expectations, but it was not the worst superhero movie I’ve seen. I didn’t love much about it, however. I really didn’t like Zachary Levi as the titular Shazam. It felt like he only had two tracks: deadpan and sarcastic. The character is a literal child in a man’s body, so I was fine with the immaturity of his lines, but it just felt so hollow. He has a scene that has a heavy emotional weight to it, and it just sounded like he was reading lines. The first Shazam! found a good balance with his character, but the problem is he is in roughly 99% of this movie. You’d expect something better out of him with that much screen time.
Asher Angel was very good in Shazam! As Billy Batson (aka kid Shazam). He was able to balance the loner mentality of being a child lost in the foster system with the emotional weight of a kid looking for his real family. He is barely in Fury of the Gods, which annoys me, especially because the few scenes he’s in had the most impact on me. Two of his scenes got me to tear up, which this movie had no business doing. They failed at finding a good balance with Billy and Shazam.
Jack Dylan Grazer is easily the best part of this movie. His character Freddy Freeman is Billy’s best friend and brother, and he was given a lot of time to shine here. The range in his performance was great. He could be flirting with Rachel Zegler in one scene, joking with the Wizard in the next, and making you tear up right after that. His relationship with Asher felt so real, just making it so painful to see the torment they go through. The rest of the supporting cast is fine, but the younger actors seemed to outshine their adult counterparts in the few scenes they had. Helen Mirren and Lucy Liu being the main villains had me skeptical at first but outside of the action scenes, their characters thrived in showing that they could be menacing through their words and intentions.
I think I will need to readjust my brain when it comes to the visuals in superhero movies like this. While there are some cool shots that incorporate light and lighting, most of the movie is visual effects that just look so off. With movies dealing with fantastical elements like this, I think it’s just a trade-off you have to make in order to get the movie done. Not every movie can look as great as The Batman when you have wood dragons flying around with Lucy Liu on their back.
The story is plausible, and I give it credit for making the characters responsible for their actions in the first movie. It keeps the focus on Shazam/Billy as they wonder if they were the right choice to wield this power, which I find completely believable. It also continues his story about finding his family, as he is nearing the age where he can be aged out of foster care just as he believes he found his family. This was the crux of the emotional themes that got me to tear up. The villains are goddess siblings looking to take back the power that was stolen from their family, which makes sense. Both Shazam! movies have been about this power of the gods being bestowed upon kids and the adults want it for themselves.
But, with all that, does the box office failure of Shazam! Fury of the Gods indicate a larger trend for comic book movies? A lot of people toss the word “fatigue” around the topic, which is completely fair. The market is for sure over-saturated with superhero projects, from all studios in all mediums. However, I think the issue isn’t that there are too many, but there are not enough good ones being made. Movies like Thor: Love & Thunder, Morbius, and Antman and the Wasp: Quantumania disappointed people but The Batman and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever proved that studios could get audiences excited with heroes.
I feel strongly that Guardians of the Galaxy 3 and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse will also be box office hits. Shows like Loki, The Boys, and Invincibles showed that even in series form, heroes (and villains) can be both good and successful. When there is an emphasis on quality over quantity, audiences will respond positively. That’s a lesson already beginning to take root. James Gunn announced that they wouldn’t release a lot of projects in a year so they can see what works and what doesn’t. Marvel is more willing to push projects back so they can put out good products instead of slop, as well as cutting down on their new releases each year. Some fans might still just be exhausted with all the movies coming out and that’s fine. The studios know that, and I really hope an emphasis on quality can get people invested in these stories again because there are some great stories to tell.
Final Thoughts
Shazam! Fury of the Gods is not a bad movie by any means, but it misses the mark in order to be a worthy follow-up to the original. Even strong performances can’t pull this movie to anything above average. This felt like a lame-duck movie with the corporate shuffling going on at DC. Director David F. Sanberg has already made it clear he’s happy to get back into making horror movies and while Zachary Levi seems open to doing a third, I can see DC looking to move in a different direction.
