Throughout the last week and weekend, you may have seen Zachary Levi pleading with fans to go and see Shazam! Fury of the Gods. On the one hand, I agree that more people should have seen the movie, because I genuinely enjoyed it and thought it was a fun time. But the way that Levi has been going about pleading with people is messy at best. Instead of doing something like helping kids to go and see it who might not be able to afford it otherwise, he just logged on to Instagram and begged everyone to see Shazam! Fury of the Gods instead of other movies.
Which … sure. That’s what you’re doing when you’re promoting a movie, but Instagram should not be your only strategy, and if you really think this fondly of the movie that you made and your claim that it is for families, maybe do literally anything that would help families go see it, as others have done when they think that’s important? That might make people actually pay attention to your cries. But that’s neither here nor there. The real issue is that this live streaming has slowly become the bane of my existence.
So the reason I think someone needs to take away his Instagram lives isn’t all because these videos are chaotic. It’s also because they’re getting chopped up and shared repeatedly online to make it look like he said things that he didn’t, and I, frankly, do not want to have to watch them all to see exactly what he said about John Wick 4.
All it is doing is making people angry at Zachary Levi and is frankly having the opposite effect he’s going for. People think he’s desperate, and they don’t want to see Shazam because of it.
Look, I get it. When your movie is good and no one is seeing it? That sucks! But my god, the going on live and talking to your followers, pleading with them … Zach, bud, I don’t think the people who follow you are the ones who aren’t going to the movie, to be honest. The thing is: The movie itself is in a weird place, so fans don’t know how to handle it.
We don’t know if it is part of the DCU, and those in charge haven’t really said anything either way. So fans of DC Comics who might be prioritizing projects going into the DCU might leave Fury of the Gods behind. And there’s also the Snyder fans side of things, who didn’t like the first Shazam! movie because they thought it was unserious. (I don’t get that. It’s a kid who becomes a superhero but whatever.)
Point is: There was a lot of stuff working against this movie, and it wasn’t helped by Levi’s own recent controversy that he stirred up online. And these Instagram live pleas do make it seem like he’s aware that played into it. It’s just honestly coming across as very sad seeing these lives and the pleading that’s happening.
It’s now been a few days, and a new live hasn’t popped up, so let’s hope that’s the end of it, because if I have to see a cut video of Zachary Levi sitting outside talking to himself again, I’m going to lose it.
(featured image: Warner Bros.)
