What the hell did you guys do to Shazam!? Despite David F. Sandberg turning in a winning origin story for the teenage DC hero, one that mixed humor and horror with the right dash of family heart, Shazam! stalled out at the box office with $137 million domestically. I think Avengers: Endgame earned that much in a single day last week.
Shazam! didn’t exactly catch fire with audiences, which explains why the movie’s star, Zachary Levi, is unsure about the fate of a possible sequel. During a fan panel at Fan Expo Dallas, Levi was asked about a next chapter for Shazam, and he told the audience (via ComicBook.com):
I see him wherever my bosses tell me to take him. That's above my pay grade, bro. Like, literally, I ... And I'm totally fine with that, too. You know, I'm still being introduced to the character that I played and to the world that he inhabits. You know, there are Geoff Johns and Walter Hamada, and all the people at DC, who are very smart and very talented. And they are putting together, I think, some very cool things and journeys for all of these characters, Shazam included, Captain Marvel included.
That sounds like a textbook answer when an actor is asked a question about a sequel that might be in doubt. Shazam! isn’t posting the types of numbers that guarantee a follow-up story. Sure, it’s going better overseas, posting a grand total of $358 million. But it’s the lowest grossing film in the DCEU to date, sitting far below the disaster that is Justice League, so that’s not a vote of confidence in a Shazam! sequel, no matter how good the reviews were.
Which is disappointing, because almost everything in the DCEU is getting a sequel at this point. Jason Momoa recently proclaimed that the story for Aquaman 2 is locked. We’re waiting patiently for Patty Jenkins and Gal Gadot to deliver Wonder Woman 1984. And James Gunn is about to deliver a second Suicide Squad.
There are even some very cool places that another Shazam! movie could go. The post-credits scene teased the arrival of Mister Mind and the Monster Society of Evil. And there have been plans to bring The Rock’s villain Black Adam into the fold for some time now. But if there isn’t a sequel, none of this will happen.
Maybe DC and Warner Bros. look at Shazam! as a successful soft launch for a character who didn’t exactly have household name recognition? The reviews were solid for the movie – it sits at 90% Fresh with critics on Rotten Tomatoes, with an 87% Fresh from audiences. And Levi largely got raves for his portrayal of the titular character.
We’ll see if a second Shazam! ever gets added to DC’s release slate, but for the time being, Levi himself seems to be in the dark. To stay up to date on all of the happenings in the DCEU, bookmark CinemaBlend’s DC Portal Page for this cinematic universe, and visit it often.
