As Shazam! Fury of the Gods underperforms at the box office, Hollywood insiders are looking for somebody to blame, and one target appears to be The Rock. In the aftermath of Black Adam‘s mediocre box office, details spilled out about The Rock’s alleged behind-the-scenes demands, and it appears those same power moves had a cascading effect on the Shazam! sequel.
As everyone knows by now, The Rock was huge on promoting a massive rumble with Henry Cavill’s Superman. The Rock even revealed that he fought with Warner Bros. to bring Cavill back, which ultimately ended in a confusing scenario where Cavill announced his Superman return only to have the character rebooted by James Gunn weeks later.
However, what wasn’t widely known is that The Rock’s zeal for Superman may have affected Zachary Levi, who was supposed to have a cameo in Black Adam until its powerhouse star reportedly pulled some strings.
According to The Wrap:
Johnson did plenty of work in public to undermine “Shazam,” chiefly by promoting a face-off between Black Adam and Superman instead of the more canonical link between the hero Zachary Levi played and the former pro wrestler’s own character. Privately, he vetoed a planned post-credits scene in “Black Adam,” which would have seen Shazam recruited by Aldis Hodge’s Hawkman, and other costumed heroes, into the Justice Society of America, TheWrap can report exclusively, thanks to disclosures by two high-level Hollywood insiders.
While Black Adam not teeing up Shazam! Fury of the God could have affected its box office performance, the sequel was also facing other obstacles. The first reviews were overwhelmingly negative, which didn’t help going into a film that may not even matter in the long run. Shazam’s future in Gunn’s all-new DC Universe is up in the air, so the sequel becomes a tougher sell for fans who know the cinematic universe is already getting a reset.
More importantly, despite the first film being a surprise hit, Shazam isn’t quite a marquee character. Unlike Marvel, DC hasn’t shown that it has the juice to boost up lower-tier characters at the box office. Can Gunn change that? Here’s hoping.
(Via The Wrap)
