David F. Sandberg is revealing how directing 2023 film “Shazam! Fury of the Gods” almost made him quit helming franchise films. Sandberg, who recently directed the “Until Dawn” video game adaptation, told Gamesradar that it was the rapid fandom of “Shazam” that led him to question whether or not continuing directing IP-based films was for him.
“I mean, to be honest, fans can get very, very crazy and very angry with you,” Sandberg said. “You can get, like, death threats and everything so after ‘Shazam 2,’ I was like, ‘I never want to do another IP-based movie because it’s just not worth it.’”
As well as both 2019’s “Shazam” and its 2023 sequel, Sandberg directed 2016’s “Lights Out” and 2017’s “Annabelle: Creation.” The “Until Dawn” script is what made Sandberg walk back his post-“Shazam” vow.
“But then I was sent this script, and I was like, ‘Ah, this would be so much fun to do, to do all these kinds of horrors? I kind of have to do it, and hope that the people see what we’re trying to do and like it,’” he said. “I really thought it was brilliant of the writers to come up with this time loop idea where the night starts over because then you do kind of get that feel of the game, when you’re replaying it and making different choices. I think it’s very much in the spirit of the game.”
In 2023 upon the release of critically panned “Shazam! Fury of the Gods,” Sandberg wrote in a since-deleted tweet that he did not “regret” directing the feature but that being in the superhero franchise was “very challenging.”
“On Rotten Tomatoes I just got my lowest critic score and my highest audience score on the same film. 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,” Sandberg wrote. “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. 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. 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.”
