Zachary Levi Seemingly Shades Dwayne Johnson Amid Reports that The Rock Refused to Let ‘Black Adam’ Characters Cameo in ‘Shazam! 2’

“Shazam! Fury of the Gods” hit theatres on March 17, resulting in a disappointing opening weekend with just $65 million at the worldwide box office — a 43 per cent drop from the first “Shazam” movie.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Almost a week after “Shazam! Fury of the Gods” opened in theaters and bombed at the box office, Zachary Levi took to Instagram to weigh in on a whole lot of drama surrounding the DC comic book tentpole. In a video, the actor confirmed that plans for the “Fury of the Gods” post-credits scene — in which Shazam is recruited to join the Justice Society — were “thwarted,” although he did not say by who. A report from The Wrap published after “Fury of the God’s” opening weekend claimed that Dwayne Johnson sabotaged the “Shazam” post-credits scene by blocking “Black Adam” characters Cyclone (Quintessa Swindell) and Hawkman (Aldis Hodge) from appearing in it. Johnson headlined “Black Adam” and aimed to start a new thread of the DC Universe built around his character facing off against Henry Cavill’s Superman. “Black Adam” also underperformed at the box office, and both Johnson and Cavill are not included in the new DC Universe being spearheaded by DC Studios bosses James Gunn and Peter Safran.

At this point, it’s safe to call David F. Sandberg‘s “Shazam! Fury Of The Gods” a flop.

Dwayne Johnson blocked Black Adam stars from appearing in the post-credits scene of Shazam! Fury Of The Gods.Director David F. Sandberg previously revealed that members of Black Adam‘s Justice Society of America were originally slated to appear in Fury Of The Gods, but that the scene “fell apart three days before we were going to roll cameras,” forcing him to find different characters.On Tuesday (March 21), The Wrap reported that Johnson actively blocked the characters from appearing in the Shazam! sequel, and that he also denied Levi a cameo in Black Adam.In an Instagram story on Tuesday, Levi shared a post mentioning The Wrap’s report and seemingly confirmed it by adding: “The truth shall set you free.”Elsewhere, Levi recently agreed with a tweet suggesting Zack Snyder fans are “happy” that Fury Of The Gods failed at the box office.“There is no denying that at the moment there are many Snyder fans who are happy for the failure of your film and many of them wish that everything that is to come fails just for not continuing with the films of their director,” one fan wrote to Levi on Twitter.“This is also true,” Levi replied in a since deleted tweet.

The highs and lows Zachary Levi must be experiencing have to be exhausting. In a matter of months, he went from having a highly-anticipated sequel to a breakout superhero film with “Shazam! Fury of the Gods.” Then, it was revealed that his franchise has an unknown future thanks to DC Studios going with a soft reboot of the superhero universe.

Shazam! Fury Of The Gods has failed at the box office.The DC sequel earned $30million (£24million) at the domestic box office in its opening weekend, which is well below the $53million (£44million) the original Shazam! opened with in 2019.Fury Of The Gods cost a reported $110million (£90million) to make and a further $100million (£80million) to market, so the film has recorded a huge loss overall.Levi, who stars as the titular hero in both films, made sure not to blame Snyder fans for the box office failure but acknowledged that many of them would be happy to see the film underperform after Warner Bros. dropped Snyder’s DC Universe.“There is no denying that at the moment there are many Snyder fans who are happy for the failure of your film and many of them wish that everything that is to come fails just for not continuing with the films of their director,” one fan wrote to Levi on Twitter.“This is also true,” Levi replied in a since deleted tweet.

Zachary Levi is commenting on the report that Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson blocked his character Black Adam from appearing in an end credits scene for Shazam! Fury of the Gods.

“Shazam! Fury of the Gods” hit theatres on March 17, resulting in a disappointing opening weekend with just $65 million at the worldwide box office — a 43 per cent drop from the first “Shazam” movie.

Even though it’s only been in theaters for a week, it’s clear from the box office receipts, thus far, “Shazam! Fury of the Gods” is not going to be a massive hit during its theatrical run. That marks two DC films in a row that have greatly underperformed at the box office (the other being “Black Adam” back in October of last year).

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter Shazam wasn’t the magic word at the weekend box office. “Shazam: Fury of the Gods” opened to No. 1 in North America, but the Warner Bros. and DC Comics sequel fell short of expectations with its disappointing $30.5 million debut from 4,071 theaters. Heading into the weekend, the film was expected to collect $35 million to $40 million, which already wasn’t all that spectacular since it cost north of $110 million to make and another $100 millions more to market. It’s a substantial drop from 2019’s “Shazam,” the first comic book installment starring Zachary Levi’s quirky hero, which opened to $53.5 million and ended its box office run with $140 million domestically and $366 million globally. It’s also one of the worst starts in the DC Cinematic Universe, other than pandemic-era releases like “Wonder Woman 1984” ($16.7 million) and “The Suicide Squad” ($26 million), which both opened simultaneously on HBO Max.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor SPOILER ALERT: This story contains spoilers for “Shazam! Fury of the Gods,” currently playing in theaters. Zachary Levi returns as Billy Baston/Shazam in “Shazam! Fury of the Gods.” In the DC superhero sequel, a trio of vindictive sorceresses called the Daughters of Atlas — led by Helen Mirren as Hespera, Lucy Liu as Kalypso and Rachel Zegler as Anthea — want to avenge their father and take back the power of the gods they believe was stolen from Shazam and his crew. David F. Sandberg directs and, in true superhero style, peppers easter eggs throughout the film for the most eagle-eyed superhero fans.

Zachary Levi is responding to commentary surrounding the end credits scenes in Shazam! Fury of the Gods.

Jordan Moreau The “Fury of the Gods” may not be all that furious. Warner Bros. and DC’s “Shazam” sequel is taking flight with $3.4 million at the domestic box office in Thursday previews, behind the original movie’s preview haul in 2019. The sequel to Zachary Levi’s superhero movie will land with a smaller opening than its predecessor. The first “Shazam” movie had $5.9 million in Thursday previews before opening with $53.5 million in April 2019. It went on to gross $140 million domestically and $366 million globally. However, “Shazam: Fury of the Gods” is only expected to bring in $35 million to $40 million. Each of the “Shazam” movies cost $100 million to produce, but that’s a significant drop from the original.

DC superhero outing Shazam! Fury Of The Gods hits cinemas this month.Directed by David F. Sandberg (Lights Out), the sequel sees Billy Batson (Asher Angel) and his foster siblings transform into superheroes once again to take on a new threat in the Daughters of Atlas.Zachary Levi returns as the super-charged alter-ego of Billy, aka Shazam.

One of the things that made “Shazam!” so engaging, entertaining, and different was that it brought humor, an endearing irreverence, and an exploration and development of character that satisfied the initiated but also drew in the unfamiliar. It felt natural, full of vigor, and inspired.

The Shazamily is back, and on a much larger scale, but at its heart this superhero saga is still about family, and that’s the good thing here.

In the pantheon of DC superhero movies, David F. Sandberg’s “Shazam!” still stands out as something special: an emotional, character-driven film with good humor and an actual point to make that never let flashy spectacle get in the way of telling a wonderful, personal story.It would be nice to report that the sequel, “Shazam! Fury of the Gods” follows in that tradition.

Carla Renata For the first time in more than two years, the cast of “Shazam! Fury of the Gods” reunited for the red carpet premiere of their insanely action-packed sequel. Complete with an arcade of pinball machines, video games, cornhole, lightning bolt photo ops and a Skittles bouncy house, the pre-party was pure unadulterated joy. While director David F. Sandberg couldn’t join due to Covid, returning cast members Zachary Levi, Asher Angel, Jack Dylan Grazer, Adam Brody, Ross Butler, Meagan Good, D.J. Cotona, Grace Caroline Currey, Faithe Herman, Ian Chen, Jovan Armand, Marta Milans, Cooper Andrews, Djimon Hounsou and newbies Rachel Zegler, Lucy Liu and Helen Mirren walked the rain-soaked carpet.

“Shazam: Fury of Gods” is anticipated to overtake “Scream VI” and rule the box office this week, but the total gross won’t shatter any records.

New Line’s Covid-delayed DC sequel Shazam! Fury of the Gods finally will hit theaters this weekend in 77 offshore territories and the U.S. with a global outlook between $80M-$85M — $35M of that coming from domestic.