Hollywood megastar Dwayne Johnson is making headlines again but this time for the wrong reasons. The actor is blamed by certain fans for the failure of the recent film, ‘Shazam: Fury of Gods.’
The latest DCEU film which has Zachary Levi in the lead role fell flat at the box office after it only managed to collect $30 million in the opening weekend. The DCEU film was made with a budget of over $110 million and had pumped in another $100 million for promotions. The film also failed to match the previous Shazam film’s opening collections. The 2019 film had a $53.5 million opening.
Dwayne Johnson reportedly asked the studio to remove Shazam from his recent film Black Adam in order to give a standalone film to both the characters. He then brought back Henry Cavill’s Superman in Black Adam but the film ended up being a disaster at the box office. Johnson and Cavill were then removed by James Gunn and Peter Safran after taking charge of DCU.
💯 true
— Dwayne Johnson (@TheRock) August 15, 2022
Original script had both #BlackAdam #Shazam establishing their origin stories in one film. I fought hard for both characters (+ JSA) to have their own stand alone films for the fans to enjoy.
And protect Black Adam’s ruthless & extremely violent tone as we build out #DCEU https://t.co/KFrokn5Tjn
The fact that they never met is hilarious to me pic.twitter.com/3aW6VpgWzt
— NeganThatDude (@NeganThatDude) March 18, 2023
Many felt that Dwayne Johnson‘s decision to separate Black Adam and Shazam in the film was a major missed opportunity. It looks like DCU fans won’t be seeing Black Adam vs Shazam anytime soon following the recent developments.
Fan reactions: DC fans unhappy with Dwayne Johnson for ruining Shazam
Fans on social media didn’t hold back at all following the underwhelming response of Shazam: Fury of Gods. Many fans took to Twitter and blamed Johnson and his ego for ruining the film.
Fans claimed that Dwayne Johnson felt that he was bigger than the DCU so he pulled strings and made changes that suited him. Some even said that casting Johnson has almost resulted in the downfall of the fan-favorite franchise.
Casting the Rock was a cool idea, but the problem is that he’s too big to take a backseat. He wanted to fight Superman instead of Shazam for a reason. He made a Black Adam movie instead of being in a Shazam movie for a reason. Ego. https://t.co/YXNOfiT1zB
— Tom Smith (@Tom_Smith717) March 18, 2023
“Casting the Rock was a cool idea, but the problem is that he’s too big to take a backseat. He wanted to fight Superman instead of Shazam for a reason. He made a Black Adam movie instead of being in a Shazam movie for a reason. Ego.” A Twitter user said.
The Rock refusing to play ball with Shazam kinda killed both franchises. Very frustrating. Shazam 2 could’ve easily been a Black Adam vs Shazam movie with Superman. And you would’ve seen all the money at the box office. https://t.co/woCHyvxa9Y
— RJ (@ResonantJustice) March 18, 2023
“The Rock refusing to play ball with Shazam kinda killed both franchises. Very frustrating. Shazam 2 could’ve easily been a Black Adam vs Shazam movie with Superman. And you would’ve seen all the money at the box office.” Another user wrote.
Dwayne Johnson has not responded to any of the fan criticism yet. It looks like we won’t be seeing Johnson’s Black Adam returning to the DCU anytime soon. Fans are now waiting to see what the future will hold for the DCU under the new leadership of James Gunn and Peter Safran.