Trivia / SHAZAM! Fury of the Gods

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• Awesome, Dear Boy: In an interview with Graham Norton, Helen Mirren stated that, despite not being a big superhero fan, she enjoyed the first film and signed on to the sequel as a result.
• Billing Displacement: Asher Angel plays the main character, Billy Batson, in his normal human form, so it makes sense that he'd be billed second after Zachary Levi, who plays his Shazam form. However, Angel ultimately gets less than ten minutes of screentime in the movie (due to Billy spending most of it as Shazam), far less than most of the other actors who are billed lower.
• Box Office Bomb: With a reported budget of about $125 million, the film opened to an anemic $30.1 million domestic and $60 million worldwide, the lowest opening of any DCEU film not impacted by the COVID-19 Pandemic and simultaneous release on HBO Max. From there, it suffered huge weekend-to-weekend drops both domestically and internationally. It was put on digital platforms within a month of release and was out of theaters shortly thereafter. It grossed only $133 million, barely covering the cost of production and falling well short of the roughly $250 million it would have needed to break even. Reasons for its poor performance have mostly been chalked up to a competitive release window plus poor marketing and reviews and an interest-killing impending reboot of DC Comics properties on film announced by DC Studios president James Gunn prior to its release.
• California Doubling: Atlanta stands in for Philadelphia, replacing Toronto from the first film.
• Character Aged with the Actor: The film takes place three years after the first film, which was necessary to account for the child actors aging since then.
• Creator Backlash: Asher Angel liked a tweet that criticized Zachary Levi's performance in this movie, indicating that he wasn't impressed with how Billy's Shazam form was portrayed in this film.
• Dear Negative Reader: David F. Sandberg made a handful of disparaging remarks regarding some recurring, even incessant, fault-finding complaints he had been given online. He posted a half-star review of the film on Letterboxd (he has done negative reviews for his previous films, too) that said "Billy and Shazam have different personalities. I really wish someone would point this out to the director. Unwatchable!"
• Executive Veto: Originally Hawkman and Cyclone were meant to appear to recruit Billy into the Justice Society in the mid-credits scene, but Black Adam star and producer Dwayne Johnson vetoed the cameo for unknown reasons. Producer Peter Safran improvised by having Emilia Harcourt (Jennifer Holland) and John Economos (Steve Agee) from The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker appear instead, serving the same function.
• Invisible Advertising: The marketing budget on the film was cut significantly as a result of Warner Bros. making multiple cost-cutting measures after their merger with Discovery, leading to the film's underperformance.
• Missing Trailer Scene: Shazam's line from the first trailer where he happily shouts, "I just threw a truck at a dragon! I love my life!" isn't in the final movie, largely since that scene, in context, is far less lighthearted and more dire.
• Money, Dear Boy:
  • Commenting on the film's disappointing box-office debut via (now deleted) Reddit comment, director David F. Sandberg stated, "It's not like this comes as a surprise. I saw where this was heading a long time ago. I'll be alright though. I got paid all my money upfront [smiley emoji]." However, he later clarified that his comment was tongue-in-cheek and he was proud of the film.
  • When Rachel Zegler was asked why she decided to be in the movie, she matter-of-factly stated, "I needed a job." (She was cast before she got major recognition with West Side Story, besides.) That being said, in later social media posts where she felt that critics were being too hard on the movie, she indicated that she did at least enjoy her time working on it, stating that she got to meet some great people.
• The Other Darrin:
  • A particular case with a bit of The Original Darrin. In SHAZAM!, Michelle Borth played the adult superheroine form of Mary Bromfield, which was considered as something of an unnecesary example of Time-Shifted Actor (for a given definition of "time" anyway) due to Grace Caroline Currey already being over 20 at the time. In this film, Currey gets to play the superheroine form herself.
  • Played straight with the Japanese dub, where Mamoru Miyano replaces Masaki Suda as the voice of the title character from the original.
• Real-Life Relative: David F. Sandberg's wife Lotta Losten plays the nurse rescued by Shazam during the bridge collapse.
• Release Date Change: The film was originally set for release on April 1, 2022, before it was delayed to November 4, 2022 and then to June 2, 2023 due to the COVID-19 Pandemic messing with production schedules. It was then moved up to December 16, 2022, since it was ready for release sooner than other DC films delayed by the pandemic — that date was previously given to Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. The release date was then pushed back five days to December 21 in April 2022. The film was then moved to March 17, 2023, taking up Aquaman: The Lost Kingdom's spot after that film was pushed back.
• The Shelf of Movie Languishment: Production on the movie stalled due to the Covid-19 Pandemic, but was largely on schedule to release in April 2022. Studio issues and lingering pandemic concerns ended up shuffling the release date another year. Many commented this resulted in the lackluster box office due to a crowded release schedule while the first film did good but not great, and would have likely done better if released on schedule and with some space to breathe.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Dwayne Johnson was approached to cameo as Black Adam, but turned down the offer due to him wanting the character to appear in his own solo movie first.
  • The Stinger was originally going to have a cameo appearance from Aldis Hodge as Hawkman and Quintessa Swindell as Cyclone, with the two showing up to recruit Billy into the Justice Society of America. However, the plan was dropped after being vetoed by Dwayne Johnson. Emilia Harcourt and John Economos from Peacemaker were instead added in as a last minute replacement.
• You Look Familiar: The museum guide is played by Rizwan Manji, previously the janitor from Peacemaker.

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