2019 DC Comics superhero film
Shazam! is a 2019 American superhero film based on the DC character Shazam. Produced by New Line Cinema, DC Films, the Safran Company, and Seven Bucks Productions, and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, it is the seventh installment in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU). It was directed by David F. Sandberg from a screenplay by Henry Gayden who co-wrote the story with Darren Lemke, and stars Zachary Levi, Mark Strong, Asher Angel, Jack Dylan Grazer, and Djimon Hounsou. The film follows teenager Billy Batson (Angel) as he is chosen by the ancient wizard Shazam (Hounsou) to be his new champion by saying the name "Shazam", allowing him to transform into an adult superhero (Levi) with various superpowers. Billy and his foster brother Freddy Freeman (Grazer) must discover Billy's new powers in order to stop the evil Dr. Thaddeus Sivana (Strong) and the Seven Deadly Sins.
Development of a live-action Shazam! film began at New Line in the early 2000s, but was delayed for several years. The film went into pre-production in 2009, with Peter Segal as director, John August as writer and Dwayne Johnson being considered to star as the anti-hero Black Adam, but the project fell through; Johnson acts as an executive producer on Shazam! William Goldman, Alec Sokolow, Joel Cohen, Bill Birch, and Geoff Johns, among others, were all attached to the project as writers at various points. The film was officially announced in 2014, with Johnson attached to star as either Shazam or Black Adam. In January 2017, he was cast to lead a solo Black Adam development project. Sandberg signed on to direct Shazam! in February 2017, and Levi was cast that October, with Angel joining the following month. Principal photography began in Toronto on January 29, 2018, with most of the film shot at Pinewood Toronto Studios, and wrapped on May 11.
Shazam! was released in the United States on April 5, 2019. The film received positive reviews from critics and was a box office success, grossing $367.8 million worldwide. It was followed by a sequel titled Shazam! Fury of the Gods (2023) and a spin-off film Black Adam (2022), both of which failed to meet the critical and financial success of the first film.
Plot summary adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.