Shazam! director David F. Sandberg responds to trolls complaining about the perceived lack of marketing surrounding the film.
A user on Twitter (where else?) questioned the following comparing Shazam! to Disney’s Aladdin:
Why do you think there’s so little marketing for #Shazam? Is this an #Aladdin Situation,are @ponysmasher and WB trying to hide something that they’re not confident in?Excited for the movie but I thought by now we would at least get some posters or a second trailer.
Sandberg replied to the tweet in the only way that he possibly could with a photshopped image of Mark Strong’s Sivana as Aladdin‘s Genie:
I guess it was just a matter of time before someone figured it out… pic.twitter.com/YJtvqIVaVW
— David F. Sandberg (@ponysmasher) February 19, 2019
Regarding the perceived lack of marketing for Shazam!, I don’t think it’s been too bad. A couple trailers and spots are out in addition to Zachary Levi promoting the movie in various magazines, plus toys are also out. The movie only cost around $90 million or so to make, so it is not like it needs some huge marketing campaign to recoup costs. The film also gets released April 5, so there is still a lot of time to promote things. Personally, I am not a fan of revealing too much footage before the movie as it really spoils things for me. What Marvel Studios has been doing as of late regarding their movies is probably the best approach, which is to only show footage from the first 15-20 minutes in spots and trailers. It makes the film all the more better when you actually see it. I also think word-of-mouth will be big for Shazam!