Channel 2 Shazam star Zachary Levi has slammed the “garbage” coming out of Hollywood, calling on fans to vote with their wallets.
Appearing at the Chicago Fan Expo on Saturday, August 12 (As reported by Entertainment Weekly), Shazam’s rep asked fans to “not pick” trash movies.
“Personally, I feel like the amount of content that comes in from Hollywood is rubbish — they just don’t care enough to make it cool for you guys,” he said.
Levy criticized the inability of some films to live up to the hype they generate. “How often do you see a commercial and say, ‘Oh my God, that looks so cool! Then you go to the movie and you’re like, ‘Was this what I get?'” Levy added. “They know that once you actually buy the ticket and you’re in the seat, they’ve got your money. And the only way to change any of it is if we don’t go to the trash. We have to not actively pick the trash. It will help. It will help a lot.”
Levi’s Shazam 2 failed to captivate audiences upon its March release, earning an average critical reception of just $133 million worldwide.
“The audience score is still pretty good, but the critics score was, I don’t know, very strangely and confusingly low, and people were insanely unnice,” Levy recently said of the Shazam sequel. “Listen, I’ve been a part of things and as good as I wish they were, I know they’re okay, I know they missed them a lot. I’m not saying Shazam! Fury of the Gods is some great Orson Welles masterpiece, but it’s a darn good movie.”
It’s unclear if Levi will return as Shazam now that the sequel has been deemed a major flop. In a recent interview, Levy himself said, “I have no idea where we go from here.” The character is also notably absent from James Gunn and Peter Safran’s DCU roadmap.
IGN’s Shazam 2 review gave it a 7/10 and said, “Shazam! Fury of the Gods is a sweet, often funny second outing for Billy Batson and his family of young heroes. Each of Atlassian’s villainous daughters brings something unique to the screen (to mixed benefits). for the plot) and Helen Mirren’s performance stands out, but it’s disappointing that the iconic heart of the first film retracts into such an expanded scope.”
Want to read more about Shazam: Wrath of the Gods? Find out how Shazam tried to get Henry Cavill for the first movie as well as how Shazam 2 director David F. Sandberg responded to middling reviews.
Ryan Liston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow it Twitter.