When Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav installed the new leadership of James Gunn and Peter Safran at DC, heavy decisions were promptly made from the unplugging of Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman 3 to Henry Cavill losing his Superman cape.
However, throughout it all Shazam! star Zachary Levi’s faith in his new bosses didn’t waver, with the star defending them online.
Tonight at the LA premiere of Shazam: Fury of the Gods, Levi told Deadline that when it comes to the further adventures of Captain Marvel, “It all comes down to what the people want.” Shazam: Fury of the Gods is opening this Friday with an eye on a $35M domestic, $85M worldwide start off a $125M production cost. Warner Bros pushed the New Line movie out of its previous Christmas corridor last year, away from Avatar: The Way of Water, to its current March 17 date so that it can have some breathing room at the box office, and access to Imax screens.
“We made a great movie, I’m really proud of this movie, I hope everyone goes sees it, I hope they tell all their friends and family,” Levi told Deadline.
“That’s all I can do: I can show up and be the best Shazam that I can be,” he added.
Even if there’s not another Shazam, would Levi be open to be appearing in future DC movies?
“Trust me, wherever they say, we want you to be Shazam in this thing, I’d be like ‘Great let’s go. I’ll do that,’” said the actor.
In the marketing of Black Adam, Dwayne Johnson was continually challenging Shazam to a fight, and the notion was that we’d see the anti-hero and hero go at it at some point on the big screen. However, that doesn’t seen to be the immediate case with Johnson announcing before Christmas that Black Adam wasn’t part of Gunn and Safran’s DC phase one.
Safran and Gunn said at their DC press day on Jan. 30 that they’re still interested in working with the actors and actresses previously cast as big DC superheroes, which includes Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman, Jason Momoa as Aquaman, Zachary Levi as Shazam and potentially even Ezra Miller as The Flash.
“I do know that Peter (Safran), who I’ve know for years, and James (Gunn) who I’ve even known longer, are really excellent leaders. And I trust where they’re going to take all this stuff,” emphasized Levi.
“We’re confident about the future of the franchise” Rachel Zegler told us tonight. She debuts in Fury of the Gods as Anthea, the third daughter of Atlas, and the younger sister of Hespera and Kalypso.
Henry Gayden, who co-wrote the movie with Chris Morgan, told Deadline that in regards to their talks with Gunn and Safran about more Shazam!, the duo have had “only the most preliminary of conversations, we’re all waiting to see how this movie does and then see if we can tell that story.”
The first Shazam! back in April 2019 opened to $53.5M stateside, and finaled at $140.4M and $366M worldwide. Deadline reported that the pic yielded a $74M net profit.
Neither rain nor wet carpet kept the stars of Shazam! Fury of the Gods from showing up to the LA premiere tonight, which also included Lucy Liu, Helen Mirren, Faithe Herman, Asher Angel, Jack Dylan Grazer, D.J. Cotrona, Meagan Good, Ross Butler, Ian Chen, Grace Caroline Currey and Djimon Hounsou.
However, the pic’s director David F. Sandberg stayed at home as he tested positive for Covid.
Gunn and wife-Peacemaker actress Jennifer Holland head to the premiere:
Previews for Shazam! Fury of the Gods start Thursday at 3PM.