It remains to be seen which actor will utter the word "Shazam" and transform from an ordinary boy into a superhero with the powers of six mythical deities. But the identity of the standalone Shazam movie’s director may have been decided.
The Wrap and several other outlets report that Swedish filmmaker David F. Sandberg is in negotiations with New Line Cinema to direct Shazam. The project is going to be part of the DC Extended Universe, and currently has a release date of April 5, 2019.
Last year, Sandberg followed several no-budget short horror films with Lights Out, his first feature-length film. The movie not only grossed a whopping $148.9 million at the worldwide box-office (against its production budget of less than $5 million), but also managed to win critics’ hearts. The director is also at the helm of Annabelle 2, which rolls into theaters this August.
The initial plan was for Black Adam (Dwayne Johnson) to be Shazam’s main antagonist, but we learned last month that the movie has been split into two different movies. While one will still have Billy Batson as its central character, the other will be a solo outing for Johnson's character. Whether Black Adam will appear in Shazam is still unclear.
It was also reported last month that Earth to Echo scribe Henry Gayden has shouldered the responsibility of penning the Shazam movie script. The titular superhero hasn’t been cast yet, but actors Derek Theler and Alan Ritchson have announced on social media that they’re in the running.
