'Shazam! Fury of the Gods' director says he's 'done with superheroes' after receiving his 'lowest critic score' for the DC Comics sequel
- "Shazam! Fury of the Gods" director David F. Sandberg said he's "done" with superhero movies for now.
- The DC sequel had a low box office opening and Sandberg's "lowest critic score" on Rotten Tomatoes.
"Shazam! Fury of the Gods" director David F. Sandberg said he doesn't plan to direct any more superhero movies after receiving his "lowest critic score" for the movie.
The latest DC Comics adaptation premiered in theaters last week but grossed it a low $30.5 million over the weekend, according to Deadline. On the critics' aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the "Shazam!" sequel also received a critics' score of 53%, which is much lower than the original "Shazam," which received a 90% score.
On Monday, Sandberg, who directed both "Shazam!" and its sequel, addressed both the low Rotten Tomatoes score and the low box office numbers in a Twitter thread.
"On Rotten Tomatoes I just got my lowest critic score and my highest audience score on the same film," Sandberg wrote. "I wasn't expecting a repeat of the first movie critically but I was still a little surprised because I think it's a good film. Oh well."
He continued: "As I've been saying for a while now I'm very eager to go back to horror (as well as trying some new things). After six years of Shazam I'm definitely done with superheroes for now."
Before directing the "Shazam!" movies," the Swedish director was known for directing horror movies including "Lights Out" and "Annabelle: Creation."
Sandberg added: "Just to be clear, I don't regret even for a second making the Shazam movies. I've learned so much and gotten to work with some truly amazing people. Will forever be grateful that I got to direct two of these! They've been very challenging but valuable experiences."
He added: "One thing I've really been looking forward to is disconnecting from the superhero discourse online. A lot of that stresses me out so much and it will be nice not having to think about that anymore."
On Sunday, "Shazam 2" star Rachel Zegler hit back at fans for being "senselessly mean" about the movie after she tried to encourage people to watch it in an earlier tweet.
"Some people out there and just being… senselessly mean. and it's unnecessary," Zegler tweeted. "And i know, i know, 'if you can't handle the heat…' and all that nonsense, and you're right. but our film is actually very good. it's just cool to hate on fun nowadays. that's okay. we're good."
"Shazam! Fury of the Gods" is the first of four final DC Extended Universe movies set to come out this year before new DC bosses James Gunn and Peter Safran reshape the DC's cinematic universe.
"Shazam! Fury of the Gods" is in theaters now.