Zachary Levi and Charlie Kaufman separately slam Hollywood for releasing ‘garbage’ movies

Christopher Rosen
·4 min read
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“Shazam! Fury of the Gods” star Zachary Levi and Oscar-winning screenwriter Charlie Kaufman separately called out Hollywood studios for releasing “garbage” movies, and each urged audiences to show more discerning tastes moving forward.

Levi reportedly made his remarks at the Chicago Fan Expo over the weekend, although in relaying the actor’s comments, Entertainment Weekly didn’t provide the full context or a video to corroborate the fiery quotes. 

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“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 reportedly said.

“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?’” Levi added. “They know that once you’ve already bought the ticket and you’re in the seat, they’ve got your money. And the only way for us to change any of it is to not go to the garbage. We have to actively not choose the garbage. It’ll help. It’ll help a lot.”

Levy has spoken frequently about his disappointment with the response to “Shazam 2,” which grossed a little over $133 million worldwide and was considered a huge step back from the original film according to most critics. Those who did purchase tickets to the film, however, were kinder to the project, at least judging by the film’s Rotten Tomatoes audience score. 

“As an experience, I really enjoyed making that movie and I really enjoyed playing that part. I don’t know what the future holds for it all, because, unfortunately, the second movie was not as well-received,” Levi said last month. “The audience score is still quite good, but the critics’ score was, I don’t know, very oddly and perplexingly low, and people were insanely unkind.

He added at the time, “Listen, I’ve been a part of things and as much as I wish that they were good, I know that they’re okay, I know they missed a lot. I’m not saying ‘Shazam! Fury of the Gods’ is some perfect Orson Welles masterpiece, but it’s a good darn movie.”

The chances of a third “Shazam” film seem unlikely, as DC Films moves forward with James Gunn and Peter Safran in leadership roles.

Like Levi, Kaufman was similarly pressed about Hollywood’s tendency to release trash into movie theaters. 

“At this point, the only thing that makes money is garbage. It’s just fascinating. It makes a fortune, and that’s the bottom line,” Kaufman said at the Sarajevo Film Festival, according to Deadline. “It’s very seductive to the studios but also to the people who engage and become the makers of that garbage, especially if they’re lauded for the garbage because they don’t have to look inward or think long about what they’re doing.”

Kaufman didn’t cite any specific films by name but did also call out audiences for participating in the cycle. “They don’t seem to see past the cynical sales pitch,” he said about ticket buyers. “Even though the sales pitch is presented in a way that suggests they are being fed something of value, they’re not.”

Kaufman, who won an Oscar for writing “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” added, “The diet is so corrupted and has been for so long. It’s like if you eat shit all your life, you want shit. If you eat processed food, you crave it. And you wouldn’t if you hadn’t been fed it all your life. That’s what the movie machine does and I find it really offensive. It makes me angry.”

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