The next DC Extended Universe movie to go in front of the cameras will be Shazam, the story of Billy Watson, a little boy who receives godlike powers and an adult-sized body from an ancient wizard. David F. Sandberg (Lights Out) will direct the film, which has been stuck in development hell since the early 2000s.
Originally published by Fawcett Comics, the adventures of the superhero named “Captain Marvel” (who received his powers from a wizard named “Shazam”) were originally filmed as part of a multi-part serial way back in 1941, just one year after the popular character made their debut. The hero gets his powers from various legendary figures, whose names form a certain, fanciful acronym: Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles, and Mercury (SHAZAM).
Dwayne Johnson has been attached to the project since 2014 as the villainous Black Adam, and is expected to get his own motion picture in the near future. It’s uncertain whether Dwayne Johnson will first make an appearance in Shazam, which should go in front of the cameras in early 2018 and be released sometime in 2019 (via Hollywood Reporter).
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David F. Sandberg has emerged as one of Warner Bros.’ most popular directors. He adapted his own, breakout horror short Lights Out into a lucrative feature debut that is spawning an upcoming sequel, and his latest film, Annabelle: Creation, is expected to make big bucks later this summer, like all of the films in The Conjuring series have so far.
Of course, Hollywood has an excellent history of recruiting horror filmmakers to adapt their shock-and-awe storytelling styles to blockbuster superhero films. Evil Dead director Sam Raimi transformed the action-centric superhero genre into four-quadrant box office with his Spider-Man movies, Zack Snyder got his start with the Dawn of the Dead remake before he spearheaded the DC Extended Universe, and The Conjuring director James Wan is currently hard at work on the upcoming Aquaman film.
With Shazam moving into active production in the very near future, expect more updates about the cast and direction the film will take in the months to come. And keep coming back to Crave because more news is coming out of Comic-Con 2017 all the danged time!
The 12 Superhero Movie Announcements We Need from Comic-Con 2017:
Top Photo: DC Comics
William Bibbiani (everyone calls him ‘Bibbs’) is Crave’s film content editor and critic. You can hear him every week on The B-Movies Podcast and Canceled Too Soon, and watch him on the weekly YouTube series What the Flick. Follow his rantings on Twitter at @WilliamBibbiani.
12 Superhero Movie Announcements We Need from Comic-Con 2017
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Batgirl
The first live-action Batgirl movie is on its way, courtesy of director Joss Whedon, and Comic-Con would be the perfect place to announce who will be starring in the title role, who will be the villain, and when it's actually coming out.
Photo: DC Comics
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The Batman
Matt Reeves has thrown out Ben Affleck's screenplay and he's starting from scratch, and that means so are we. We don't know the official title, we don't know the villains, and heck, we don't even know for sure if Ben Affleck is coming back for the next solo Batman movie. Let's hope we know the answers to at least some of these questions by the end of Comic-Con.
Photo: Warner Bros.
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The DC Extended Universe Mystery Movies
Warner Bros. has a lot of films in development and a lot of release dates staked out inoverthe next few years, but for the most part, we still don't know what's coming and when. Comic-Con would be a great place to officially announce their upcoming slate and confirm once and for all which of these movies are actually on the immediate horizon.
Photo: DC Entertainment
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Fantastic Four
The last few live-action Fantastic Four movies were duds, but if 20th Century Fox wants to keep the rights to the characters, they have to do SOMETHING with them once in a while. Rumors are swelling that a kid-friendly version might be on the way. Hopefully the studio sets the record straight at SDCC.
Photo: 20th Century Fox
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The Flash
The first live-action movie based on The Flash has a star, and has at least some priority at Warner Bros., but it still doesn't have a filmmaker. Directors like Matthew Vaughn, Robert Zemeckis and even former Han Solo filmmakers Phil Lord and Chris Miller have been in contention for a while now. Let's finally lock this down and get this production running.
Photo: Warner Bros.
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Gambit
20th Century Fox has been trying to make a solo Gambit movie for a while now, recently attaching Channing Tatum to the title role, and plunking Doug Liman in the director's chair. But the production appears to have completely stalled. Comic-Con is the best place to jumpstart the buzz again, by announcing new cast and crew members.
Photo: Marvel Comics
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Green Lantern Revisted Header
Okay, so the first Green Lantern movie was a dud. Hopefully the DC Extended Universe is big enough and weird enough for audiences to accept a high-high-concept like Green Lantern Corps, the upcoming film about intergalactic space cops who use willpower to turn green energy into... stuff. The new film needs a director and two stars, to play Hal Jordan and John Stewart, and we need to know who those folks are before we can rest assured this movie is in good hands.
Photo: Warner Bros.
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Man of Steel 2
Superman died in Batman v Superman, but he's done that before, and he came back with a bang. We all know a Man of Steel 2 is in our future someday. Comic-Con should at least firm up the date, and hopefully tell us who will be taking over from Zack Snyder.
Photo: Warner Bros.
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The Untitled Avengers Movie
Marvel Studios will put on a big show and reveal a bunch of new footage but Phase Three is still a few years away, so what could they possibly reveal? Maybe the title of the currently untitled Avengers movie, which takes place after Infinity War and might just be a game changer for the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Photo: Marvel Studios
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Wonder Woman 2
The studio slow-walked the Wonder Woman movie for decades, but now it's the biggest domestic blockbuster of the summer. We all know a sequel is coming. The question is whether Patty Jenkins will return (it's not official yet), when it's coming out and who the next villain will be. And we want those answers this weekend.
Photo: Warner Bros.
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X Force
A lot of the upcoming X-Men movies sound pretty exciting, but they also sound like stories we know from the comics. It's harder to tell what form X-Force will eventually take, since the cast of the comic has changed dramatically over the years, along with their raison d'être. Hopefully we'll find out more about the film's direction and cast of characters.
Photo: 20th Century Fox
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Something Unpredictable
It would be nice if any or all of the aforementioned announcements were made at Comic-Con 2017, but what we REALLY want is something we didn't even know we wanted yet. A superhero we never thought would get their movie, getting their own movie. A groundbreaking crossover. A foray into a whole new genre. Something, ANYTHING to really shake up the superhero movie landscape.
The ball's in your court, Comic-Con. Wow us.
Photo: Warner Bros.
