‘Shazam!’ Star Zachary Levi Decries the ‘Garbage’ ‘That Comes Out of Hollywood’

As Hollywood actors and writers remain on strike, Zachary Levi is calling out the film industry for producing “garbage” content.

During Levi’s appearance at Fan Expo Chicago on Saturday, the actor, 42, urged attendees to “actively not choose the garbage” as a means of encouraging movie studios to produce higher-quality movies, as Entertainment Weekly reported.

“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,” the actor told an audience at the convention. “They don’t.”

Levi most recently starred in Shazam! Fury of the Gods, which received mixed reviews and disappointing box office returns. Its director David F. Sandberg announced he was “done with superheroes for now” following its release.

“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 said as he spoke to an audience at Fan Expo Chicago, per EW.

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Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures

“They know that once you’ve already bought the ticket and you’re in the seat, they’ve got your money,” he added. “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.”

The Shazam! sequel, which also featured performances from Helen Mirren, Rachel Zegler and Lucy Liu, made just $57.6 million at the domestic box office. At the time of the film’s release in March, Levi referenced a report that Dwayne Johnson prevented him from cameoing in fellow DC film, 2022’s Black Adam, as Fury of the Gods failed to gain momentum at the box office.

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With the film industry at a standstill due to ongoing strikes and uncertainty over whether Levi will return as Shazam in future DC movies, the actor recently joked about how he is “not allowed to talk about movies that I may be a superhero in” due to strike rules. He made the comments during an appearance at Manchester Comic-Con in the United Kingdom.

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Warner Bros./Courtesy Everett 

After Levi received backlash for joking about the “dumb” strike rules that prevent him from discussing his work, he put out a statement reaffirming his support for the Screen Actors Guild and Writers Guild of America’s strikes.

“I fully support my union, the WGA, and the strike,” Levi said Aug. 4. “I remain an outspoken critic of the exploitative system that us artists are subject to work in since I started my journey in this business 25 years ago.”

The actors’ strike has lasted over a month now, while Hollywood writers have been on strike since May. Levi said in that statement that he believes the strike “is necessary to protect ourselves, our writers, and all those working in production who make the industry move.”

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