The newZachary Levimovie is dividing critics and audiences. The star, who is perhaps best known for playing Shazam in theDC Extended Universe movies, has starred in a variety of other well-regarded titles. After breaking out in his role as the title character in the NBC spy comedyChuck, which ran for five seasons between 2007 and 2012, he went on to star in movies including Disney’s animated movieTangled, which was nominated for an Oscar, and Richard Linklater’s semi-autobiographicalApollo 10 1/2: A Space Age Childhood, which has a Certified Fresh 91% Rotten Tomatoes score.
However, in 2023 his career took a critical and commercial downturn. Although he voiced Rocky in the Netflixstop-motion animated sequelChicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget, which had solid reviews,he kicked off a streak of Rotten Tomatoes splats for his live-action movies that year. In addition to starring in the poorly reviewed theatrical flopsShazam! Fury of the Gods(49%) andHarold and the Purple Crayon(27%), his live-action streaming titleSpy Kids: Armageddon(56%) also suffered.
The Unbreakable Boy Is Winning Over Audiences
Its Rotten Tomatoes Scores Show A Huge Divide
The Unbreakable Boyhas now started connecting with audiencesin spite of its bad reviews. The new movie, which stars Levi as the father of a boy (Jacob Laval) who has brittle bone disease and is on the autism spectrum, is an inspirational drama that was shelved after being pulled from the schedule a week before its original release in late 2022 without any explanation. Now thattheUnbreakable Boyreleasehas arrived, it has divided critics with a 48% Rotten Tomatoes score and been met with a lack of theatrical enthusiasm, debuting at No. 8 on the domestic chart.
The Unbreakable Boyis projected to debut at $2.4 million or lower, which is less than one-fifth of what its fellow new releaseThe Monkeyis projected to earn at the domestic box office.
NowRotten Tomatoeshas received more than 100 verified user ratings for the Levi drama. This is enough for an audience score to be calculated, andThe Unbreakable Boyhas earned a near-perfect 95% score on the Popcornmeterwith an average score of 4.7 out of 5. While this score could fluctuate as more reviews are added, if it stays above 90% and passes a certain threshold, the movie will officially become Verified Hot in spite of critics' indifference to it.
Currently, this marksZachary Levi’s third-best audience score of all time, behind only the 2009 comedy thrillerStuntmen(97%) and the 2021 sports dramaAmerican Underdog(98% and Verified Hot).
What This Means For The Unbreakable Boy
Audiences May Be Self-Selecting
Although its theatrical prospects are still unclear, theZachary Levimovie seems to be benefiting from a factor that tends to boost inspirational and faith-based dramas. Even though their audiences tend to be smaller than major blockbusters,they attract the people who are most likely to respond well to their content. It seems that the fan base most likely to be devoted toThe Unbreakable Boyis already finding it, as was the case previously with movies likeI Still Believe(50% from critics, 98% from audiences) andOvercomer(59% from critics, 98% from audiences).
