Aquaman’s James Wan offers Shazam! director advice on dealing with fan expectations

James Wan, the director of Aquaman, has offered Shazam!’s David F. Sandberg some advice on how to deal with fan expectations.

When it comes to our favourite movie properties – especially superhero films – we fans get awfully excited and wanted to see and know more about the projects as soon as possible while we wait for the movies to come out. Fans can get a little carried away at times, however, placing unrealistic expectations on directors.

David F. Sandberg has been reacting to calls for a new Shazam! trailer in his own way, choosing to joke around with fans about it on social media. Explaining his approach, the director said:

“I just don’t have any specific trailer updates that I can share with you at this point. All I can do is have fun with it or say nothing. Most of the time I do the latter. But like you say, the movie is almost here, and it’s not like the marketing is going to slow down now.”

I just don’t have any specific trailer updates that I can share with you at this point. All I can do is have fun with it or say nothing. Most of the time I do the latter. But like you say, the movie is almost here, and it’s not like the marketing is going to slow down now. https://t.co/bWJIqIJ30j

— David F. Sandberg (@ponysmasher) February 20, 2019

In response, Aquaman director, James Wan, offered Sandberg some advice on dealing with fan expectations, having dealt with some interesting fan reactions himself in the lead up to Aquaman‘s release:

“When AQ trailer was held back till ComicCon, people freaked out. When the movie was pushed from Oct to Dec, people laughed, ‘Oh, it’s in trouble…DC doesn’t know what it’s doing…yada yada.’ When MPR dropped on our week, ‘AQ is getting slaughtered.’ And so on, and so on…”

Wan continued: “(When the trailers/extended one finally arrived, everyone was like, ‘Oh, now you’re showing too much…We’ve seen the whole movie.’ lol) @ponysmasher Best thing you can do is ignore all the noise and distraction, and focus on your project and do your best. That’s all you can do.”

(When the trailers/extended one finally arrived, everyone was like, “Oh, now you’re showing too much…We’ve seen the whole movie.” lol)@ponysmasher Best thing you can do is ignore all the noise and distraction, and focus on your project and do your best. That’s all you can do.

— James Wan (@creepypuppet) February 20, 2019

Just buckling down and focusing on the film itself does seem like the smartest move. After all, you can never please everyone. No matter what, some people are going to find things to criticize. At least fans don’t have long to wait now before Shazam!‘s April release date.

SEE ALSO: Shazam! director talks about the step up from low budget movies

We all have a superhero inside us, it just takes a bit of magic to bring it out. In Billy Batson’s (Asher Angel) case, by shouting out one word—SHAZAM!—this streetwise 14-year-old foster kid can turn into the adult Super Hero Shazam (Zachary Levi), courtesy of an ancient wizard. Still a kid at heart—inside a ripped, godlike body—Shazam revels in this adult version of himself by doing what any teen would do with superpowers: have fun with them! Can he fly? Does he have X-ray vision? Can he shoot lightning out of his hands? Can he skip his social studies test? Shazam sets out to test the limits of his abilities with the joyful recklessness of a child. But he’ll need to master these powers quickly in order to fight the deadly forces of evil controlled by Dr. Thaddeus Sivana (Mark Strong).”