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If Warner Bros. Discovery needed additional reassurance concerning their decision to restart their slate<\/a> of DC Comics-branded films, they got it this weekend with the superhero super-flop Shazam! Fury of the Gods<\/em>.<\/p>\n The sequel to the successful 2019 picture performed miserably at the domestic box office, grossing just $30 million according to The Hollywood Reporter<\/em><\/a>, short of the already modest projections. The industry trade outlet noted that this is \u201cone of the worst starts for a major Hollywood superhero film, as well as one of the worst for a title in the DC Cinematic Universe, including those released during the pandemic.\u201d<\/p>\n By-and-large critics didn\u2019t take to the picture. Vulture<\/a> called it \u201cuninspired swill, undone largely by the fact that it\u2019s following up a superior first movie\u201d\u2014and that was one of the more positive notices! (The New York Post<\/em><\/a> wondered if movie lovers needed to start a GoFundMe for Helen Mirren<\/strong>, presumably so she\u2019ll stop agreeing to appear in projects like this.)\u00a0<\/p>\n The Shazam!<\/em> property is one that\u2019s always been a head-scratcher. The character was originally created as Captain Marvel in 1939 by Fawcett Comics and was hit with a copyright lawsuit soon thereafter by DC, as they felt he was too similar to Superman. Then DC acquired the rights, but further legal troubles came due to confusion in the marketplace from Marvel Comics and their own Captain Marvel. (Remember that other Captain Marvel? The one starring Brie Larson<\/strong>?) Anyway, it’s complicated\u2014especially when other people wonder what it has to do with the 1996 Shaquille O\u2019Neal<\/strong> film Kazaam<\/em><\/a>,<\/em> or the late-60s Hanna-Barbera cartoon Shazaan<\/em><\/a>. (Answer: nothing.)<\/p>\n You\u2019d think all this would make for a satisfactory amount of red flags, but the first picture, in which Zachary Levi<\/strong> played a \u201cgrown-up\u201d version of a teen gifted with the powers of the ancients (when he speaks the charmed, titular phrase), was actually breezy and fun. This is apparently not the case in the follow-up, as exiting audience members speaking to CinemaScore awarded the film a B+<\/a>. A B+ doesn\u2019t sound too bad, but compare that to the original\u2019s A, and also keep in mind that as a general rule ticket-buyers tend to gobble-up comic book movies.<\/p>\n Some might argue the project is a little cursed<\/a>, and some of it probably isn\u2019t the movie\u2019s fault. Rarely is there such a public re-alignment of a franchise as there\u2019s been with the DC Comics titles. (You’ll recall the whole \u201cRelease The Snyder Cut!<\/a>\u201d fan movement.) Shazam! 2<\/em>, despite being produced by current DC Studios co-CEO Peter Safran<\/strong>, is among the last of the \u201cold guard\u201d\u2019s DC movies. The slate will be wiped clean (except for pocked universe Bat-films) when The Flash<\/em> comes this summer and uses the power of the Speed Force to split open the multiverse. As such, the project has been a bit of a punching bag, as you can see in this clip between John Oliver<\/strong> and Seth Meyers<\/strong>.\u00a0<\/p>\n This content can also be viewed on the site it originates<\/a> from.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nTwitter content<\/h4>\n