All movies have the potential to receive bad reviews, no matter which actors are in them or which big franchises they come from. DC Universe’s recently released projects have been receiving poor reactions from both fans and critics, including Shazam! Fury of the Gods, one of their newest movies, wasn’t safe from the audience's mixed reactions. However, one of the stars of the film, Rachel Zegler, who plays Athena, a Daughter of Atlas in the DC sequel, says she believes the movie is getting unfairly negative reviews.
Zegler took to Twitter to share some behind-the-scenes photos and asked the fans to give their movie a chance. “Hey, our film is actually really good! but mostly I just absolutely loved making it and the people I met whilst doing so :) go see it! give it a chance. We have an 85% audience score for a reason. some people are out there and just being… senselessly mean. and it’s unnecessary. and I know, I know, “if you can’t handle the heat…” and all that nonsense and you’re right. but our film is actually very good. It's just cool to hate on fun nowadays. That's okay. we’re good. ❤️” she wrote.
In defending the film, Zegler mentioned the sequel's 85 percent Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score [now 88 percent], which contrasts sharply with its 53 percent critical score. In terms of Audience Score, the sequel is now marginally ahead of its predecessor, 2019's Shazam! where it achieved 82 percent. The original film, on the other hand, received an amazing 90 percent from critics. It is only beaten by Wonder Woman's 93 percent as one of the greatest critically received films in the DCEU.
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However, Fury of the Gods has earned the dubious distinction of having had the poorest start (excluding pandemic-era offerings) for a comic book superhero film, a genre that has been recently suffering from lackluster box office returns. Aside from the DCU, Marvel also had the misfortune of witnessing an unpleasant response as the threequel Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania got released last month. The film has grossed $453 million worldwide, but there is no chance of it ever crossing the $500 million mark.
Zegler might still be convincing fans to give their film a shot, but director David F. Sandberg has already made peace with the sequel's current state as he responded to a Reddit comment regarding Shazam 2's underwhelming early box office performance. "It’s not like this comes as a surprise. I saw where this was heading a long time ago," he said. "I’ll be alright though. I got paid all my money upfront."
Shazam! Fury of the Gods is in cinemas now.
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