was Shazam too campy for general audiences?

[Boom]

At the risk of sounding incredibly superficial, I was immediately turned off by how "cheap" the Shazam suit looks.

I'm gonna get around to watching it, but I simply did not have a strong desire to go see it in theaters. I'm not quite sure why.

 

[B]

At the risk of sounding incredibly superficial, I was immediately turned off by how "cheap" the Shazam suit looks.

I'm gonna get around to watching it, but I simply did not have a strong desire to go see it in theaters. I'm not quite sure why.

That suit cost $1m to develop & produce apparently..

But I know what you mean, it was the muscle suit mainly I think, it made it look like a cosplay suit because of how big he was.

 

[Boom]

That suit cost $1m to develop & produce apparently..

But I know what you mean, it was the muscle suit mainly I think, it made it look like a cosplay suit because of how big he was.

Oh I don't doubt it cost a lot of money to make. But aesthetically, it's just sort of... blegh. It reminds me of the Superman Returns suit in a lot of ways: a glorified wet-suit with a hard plastic chest piece. And you're right, the muscle suit is a bit overkill.

 

[The Batman]

So has the word camp lost all meaning or?

Yup.

Many people on this site would essentially put Burton Batman, Donner Superman, and the MCU in the same category as the Adam West Batman show.

 

[Zarex]

The ill fitting suit made Zach look a kid wearing Hulk muscles. It made SHAZAM! look like a cheap "B" movie instead of the sweet, funny family-friendly flick it actually was.

If Sandberg really wanted a heavily muscled guy in the role he should have cast John Cena. Since he didn't, Zach should have had a costume that fit his frame. One example is the Homelander suit worn by Antony Starr in The Boys. Paul Bettany is another slender guy that looks perfectly superheroic in his Vision suit without (too much) padding.

I'm hoping Mr. Levi gets an upgrade for the sequel.

 

[JimThompson]

Err, what? Camp most certainly has a meaning.

Really? What is it?

 

[MadVillainy]

What defines a hit? Because some of y'all are throwing that word around way too much. No Shazam wasn't a hit. Wasn't a flop or a bomb, but it wasn't a hit or any sort. Don't fool yourselves

I also think y'all are complaining too much about the costume. I haven't seen any evidence that that affected anything

 

[MadVillainy]

I think people thought of it as a "kid's movie". At least outside of social media. People saw the trailer and wasn't interested.

People have said that before, but I haven't seen any evidence of that

 

[B]

Oh I don't doubt it cost a lot of money to make. But aesthetically, it's just sort of... blegh. It reminds me of the Superman Returns suit in a lot of ways: a glorified wet-suit with a hard plastic chest piece. And you're right, the muscle suit is a bit overkill.

I agree with the comparison, I believe the Superman Returns suit also had a muscle suit as well if I recall & it was appalling as well.

The only things I really liked about the Shazam suit was the main suit fabric & the cape, the gauntlets, boots & emblem all looked quite low grade if I'm being honest. Then when you combine it with the muscle suit being too big it makes the whole thing seem quite cosplay like. Not that there's anything wrong with some cosplay outfits, but I was expecting a bit more from a motion picture.

 

[jolldan]

I thoroughly enjoyed it so much I would put it damn near level with Wonder Woman in terms of the best movie the DCEU have taken out so far.

Frankly I think it had to be a bit campy because of the subject matter, personally think if they'd approached this with a more gritty or darker tone then half of the wonder of the character and feeling of the movie would have been lost in my opinion.

Like little scenes like this to me felt like how I feel i would have acted as a Superhero if id got those powers at 14 (Tbh I would probably still be like this now).

 

[Zarex]

I also think y'all are complaining too much about the costume. I haven't seen any evidence that that affected anything

You're probably right. But the suit SUCKED, especially in relation to the high quality of the other parts of the film.

Marvel managed to redeem the awful Cap Avengers suit with the Homecoming PSAs and Endgame (America's Ass!), so hopefully Sandberg can find some humor in the muscle suit after he ditches it (hopefully) for the sequel.

 

[MadVillainy]

I don't get how it was even a "bit" campy

You're probably right. But the suit SUCKED, especially in relation to the high quality of the other parts of the film.

Marvel managed to redeem the awful Cap Avengers suit with the Homecoming PSAs and Endgame (America's Ass!), so hopefully Sandberg can find some humor in the muscle suit after he ditches it (hopefully) for the sequel.

I don't really care about the costume. I don't really care about y'all's opinion on it. I was more talking about people acting like the suit hurt the movie. Which just seems silly because there is no evidence of that at all

 

[Flint Marko]

Really? What is it?

Deliberately exaggerated and theatrical. For example, Adam West’s Batman. Not Shazam or the MCU or most things that get called “campy”. One can argue Shazam’s suit fits that definition but that’s about it.

You could’ve googled that yourself, but there it is.

 

[THORin]

You're probably right. But the suit SUCKED, especially in relation to the high quality of the other parts of the film.

Marvel managed to redeem the awful Cap Avengers suit with the Homecoming PSAs and Endgame (America's Ass!), so hopefully Sandberg can find some humor in the muscle suit after he ditches it (hopefully) for the sequel.

Yeah, I mean, Levi could probably upgrade to a better suit. But DJ Cotrona looks hot in his green muscle suit, so they can keep that.

 

[MadVillainy]

I think some might be mixing overly comedic or even cheesy with "campy".

 

[I Am The Knight]

I have never seen the MCU get called campy? Venom has been described as campy.

 

[MadVillainy]

I have never seen the MCU get called campy? Venom has been described as campy.

I wouldn't even describe Venom as campy either

EDIT: I can't think of any recent SH movie that I'd call campy.

 

[Schlosser85]

I don't know if I'd call Venom itself "campy", but Tom Hardy's performance certainly was.

 

[Zarex]

Yeah, I mean, Levi could probably upgrade to a better suit. But DJ Cotrona looks hot in his green muscle suit, so they can keep that.

I would agree that DJ's suit looked like it fit his frame much better than Levi's. But both Mary and Darla looked superheroic without the extra padding and I think Mr. Cotrona would have as well.

 

[Erzengel]

Shazam is one of the lowest grossing mainstream CBM since 2012. Even without the MCU, I think the average CBM gross is around $550M WW. So it's hard for me to say that Shazam was a hit when there are other movies with similar production budgets that do even better. What are those called?

 

[I Am The Knight]

I don't know if I'd call Venom itself "campy", but Tom Hardy's performance certainly was.

I mean, his performance definitely was campy. But a lot of the movie had that air of...Camp to it. It wasn't overt mind you. The convenience store scene is a perfect example.

 

[GabyModa]

I did not like it so much compare to other superhero movies. It is just a family movie about caring each other. And people who like more action like me are not satisfied.
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[Limonade]

I don't think Shazam! was too campy. It was exactly the elements that people were calling for. It was a solid movie through and through.

There were various outside elements at play. IMO, it was a calculated move from WB given the budget, the climate, and the marketing. Also, I felt that people were indeed holding back from buying tickets--for the whole family--when Endgame was right around the corner. Something that was undoubtedly worth a seat at the theater--and going all out for.

Had the movie been released around this time (after people had their fill of Endgame and closing this chapter of the Marvel Cinematic Universe) we'd see this movie break half a billion, at the very least... and garner much more positive outlook on DC as a whole.

 

[Deck Rickard]

I think Shazam is a great movie but I think its lackluster box office can be boiled down to a few elements:

1. A lack of name recognition. Even though Captain Marvel/Shazam has been around since Superman's earliest adventures, he's not half as well-known.

2. The costume. Overall, I thought the Shazam suit looked okay but in today's superhero movie renaissance, it could ahve looked better. It did look very cheap in some shots and the fake muscles did Levi no favors (and the irony is that he actually bulked up a lot but the suit was obviously padded).

3. A lack of star power. Levi is a great actor and maybe future appearances as Shazam and a few more seasons of Mrs. Maisel will turn him into a major star. But he isn't right now, and while you don't necessarily need big names to open a superhero movie, I do think you need at least a little star power somewhere, even if it's just in the supporting roles. Djimon Houndsou and Mark Strong have their fans but neither is a big name, and they were barely featured in the marketing, so they were banking mostly on people showing up for "that guy from Chuck" and "that kid who seems familiar... was he in Stranger Things or something like that?"

...and that brings me to...

4. A BAADDDDD marketing campaign. As others have mentioned, why didn't they promote this thing? One trailer from Comic Con and then months and months of nothing, and then a final marketing push right before the movie. Did they want it to fail? Did Zack Snyder slip Warner Brothers' marketing director a couple grand to make the movie bomb and ensure that only DARK DARK DARK DC superhero movies make money? It was just a bizarre strategy.

 

[Rorschach2012]

I have zero interest in ever watching this again. One of my least favorite DCEU films. The Green Lantern movie has higher highs than this movie. It has lower lows too though.