Shazam actor Zachary Levi has slammed Hollywood for releasing "garbage" movies – and has asked audiences to vote with their feet.
"I personally feel like the amount of content that comes out of Hollywood that is garbage — they don't care enough to actually make it great for you guys. They don't," Levi told the crowd at Chicago Fan Expo (H/T Entertainment Weekly). "How many times do you watch a trailer and go, 'Oh my god, this looks so cool!' Then you go to the movie and it's like, 'This was what I get?'"
"They know that once you've already bought the ticket and you're in the seat, they've got your money," Levi said, adding that meaningful change will only arrive if crowds don’t turn up to what he feels are low-quality releases.
"The only way for us to change any of it is to not go to the garbage," Levi remarked. "We have to actively not choose the garbage. It'll help. It'll help a lot."
Zachary Levi’s recent release Shazam! Fury of the Gods grossed $134 million at the global box office off a reported budget of $100m. Its Rotten Tomatoes critic score of 49% was in marked contrast to its audience score of 86%, however.
Whatever you think of Levi’s comments – and the general output by studios – it’s clear that audiences are flocking towards high-quality fare instead of settling for less.
Barbie and Oppenheimer have been huge successes, while Guardians of the Galaxy 3 was one of Marvel’s biggest high-profile wins at the box office in years. Even the likes of Elemental and Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One have had better-than-expected legs thanks to strong word-of-mouth.
On the contrary, those that didn’t chime well with the general public, such as Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and The Flash, largely sunk without a trace.
For more on what’s coming out this year, head on over to our movie release dates calendar or check out our guide to upcoming movies.
