Warner Bros. hasn’t exactly thrown the full might of its marketing power behind Shazam! Fury of the Gods, but you’d at least expect the sequel to a popular superhero smash hit to at least come close to debuting in the same sort of range as its predecessor.
Sadly, the opposite is proving to be true for David F. Sandberg’s return to the DCU, with projections already being revised from a three-day opening somewhere in the $40 million range to a much more tepid $30 million. Considering the opening installment netted a stellar $53 million on its way to becoming one of the franchise’s most profitable films, that’s got to sting.
Of course, matters aren’t helped by the fact Fury of the Gods has inadvertently been painted as inessential given the incoming overhaul being plotted at the hands of James Gunn and Peter Safran. There are no guarantees Zachary Levi and the rest of the Shazamily even have a future in the DCU, so why invest your time and passion into a film that could realistically mean nothing in the long run?
Unfortunately, that seems to be an opinion the man behind the camera agrees with, seeing as Sandberg was refreshingly open and honest on Reddit when responding to the news that his comic book caper was heading for an underwhelming first frame.
Sandberg is handling it in a fashion about as diplomatic and dignified as possible, but it can’t be nice for him to know that Fury of the Gods never stood a chance at succeeding to the same levels of its predecessor regardless of how it turned out.