“Shazam” Director Talks Nasty Fan Backlash

After getting his start in horror, filmmaker David F. Sandberg switched to superheroes when he helmed the two “Shazam” films.

More recently, he’s returned to his darker roots with the release this week of his video game-to-film adaptation “Until Dawn” which is currently in cinemas.

In a candid interview with GamesRadar, the director revealed that at one point he swore off IP-based projects, at least for a little while, following the backlash he received over 2023’s “Shazam! Fury of the Gods”.

The first “Shazam!” in 2019 was a surprise, the title considered one of the better DCEU efforts with good critical reviews and solid box-office – earning $367.8 million of a relatively contained $90-100 million budget.

The sequel was a flop – costing slightly more to produce, the film landed mixed reviews and a gross of just $134.1 million – kicking off what would be a bad year for DC screen adaptations.

The negative fan response to the sequel got very bad from the sounds of it:

“I mean, to be honest, fans can get very, very crazy and very angry with you. You can get, like, death threats and everything, so after ‘Shazam 2,’ I was like, ‘I never wanna do another IP-based movie because it’s just not worth it.'”

Sandberg said the script for “Until Dawn,” despite being based on an existing IP with the famed PlayStation game, was too good to pass up and he hopes fans of that property will see what they tried to do with it: “[I] hope that the people see what we’re trying to do and like it… I think it’s very much in the spirit of the game.”

Sadly for him, the film has received only mixed reviews from critics and audiences. At a tight budget of $15 million, the film is likely to be profitable with an $8-10 million domestic haul expected this weekend.

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