Director David Sandberg received death threats from fans after Shazam! Fury of the Gods release

Washington DC [US], April 27 (ANI): Director David F Sandberg has decided to never work on Intellectual Property (IP) based projects after receiving death threats and negative reactions from fans after the release of 'Shazam! Fury of the Gods', reported Variety.
In an interview with GamesRadar, Sandberg spoke candidly about his experience working on the 'Shazam!' sequel and how it drove him away from seeking out IP-based projects, at least temporarily.
The 'Lights Out' director revealed that he received death threats from the fans after the release of the 'Shazam' sequel. This paved the way for the director to think that "IP-based movies" are not worth his efforts.
"I mean, to be honest, fans can get very, very crazy and very angry with you, you can get, like, death threats and everything, so after 'Shazam 2,' I was like, 'I never wanna do another IP-based movie because it's just not worth it.'" said Sandberg as quoted by Variety.
After the sour experience with 'Shazam', director Sandberg landed on the script of his upcoming movie 'Until Dawn,' which he believes to be a "so good" script to pass.
"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.' 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," said Sanberg as quoted by Variety.
The movie is based on a video game of the same name.
As per the outlet, the "Until Dawn" video game was first released in 2015 and makes use of a 'butterfly effect' mechanism, forcing players to make spur-of-the-moment decisions that alter the course of history.
"What I loved about the script [is] that it wasn't trying to recreate the game. Trying to condense 10 hours into two, or something like that. But it is scary still, even though we're doing a new thing," Sandberg added as quoted by Variety.
Sandberg's 'Until Dawn' stars actors Ella Rubin and Michael Cimino in the lead roles. The film is currently in the theatres. (ANI)
First Published: 27 Apr 2025, 10:24 AM IST

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