Director David F. Sandberg, Shares Production Update on ‘Shazam! Fury of the Gods’

DIRECTOR David F. Sandberg has shared an update on the production status of Shazam! Fury of the Gods.  

Based on the DC Comics character of the same name, Sandberg’s first Shazam! movie came out in 2019, becoming an instant hit among audiences thanks to its entertaining blend of humor and heart.

The movie chronicled the tale of troubled orphan Billy Batson (Asher Angel), who, after a run-in with an ancient wizard’s staff, develops the ability to transform into an adult superhero, played by Zachary Levi. At the box-office Shazam! grossed a worldwide total of $366 million against a production budget of $80-100 million, thereby becoming a bonafide commercial success for DC and Warner Bros. Impressed by this performance, a sequel was put into development soon after. However, it’s taking some time to arrive.

When the Shazam! Sequel was announced, the film was allotted a premiere date of April 1, 2022. But then, the COVID-19 pandemic broke out in the US, delaying the launch of the follow-up multiple times.

The movie has since been scheduled to release on June 2, 2023, a full 4 years after the original film’s release. There is plenty of time before the movie premieres in theaters, but Shazam! 2 started production in May 2021.

The reason for that is Sandberg wants to finish work on the film as soon as possible, as otherwise, he fears, the young cast members would be too grown up to portray their parts convincingly. Until recently, there was no news on how much progress Shazam! 2 has made since it began filming. But now, Sandberg has offered an update on the production status.

Sandberg posted a picture of the Shazam! logo to Instagram, revealing that he was done with the 27th day of filming for Shazam! 2. But at the same time, he added that there was more to go, as the film is more time-consuming than other features.

Sandberg also referenced his past projects, including Lights Out and Annabelle Creation, in his post, suggesting how those movies took reasonably less time to complete. But with Shazam! 2, the filming process is as if the two movies have been put together.

As Shazam! 2 continues filming, fans are getting closer and closer to witnessing what the movie will actually look like. Of course, it’s already known that Levi, along with the film’s other superheroes, are all getting costume upgrades, and that top-rated actresses Helen Mirren and Lucy Liu have been finalized to play Hespera and Kalypso respectively, two of the film’s three main villainous sisters. But plot details for the new movie are still slim. Presumably, Sandberg wants to keep those details under wraps until the marketing phase kicks off. Until then, fans can savor the exciting barrage of updates that’s been set loose from the film’s shooting locations. This includes unofficial looks at the heroes and villains from the sets, as well as baffling teasers and spoilers from the director himself.

With Sandberg’s latest social media post, it’s been confirmed that Shazam! 2 is already halfway through filming.

The original Shazam! took about four months to wrap up production, so by that principle and considering the current production status of the movie, filming on Shazam! Fury of the Gods should be just about complete by mid-August. Still, fans shouldn’t expect an official look at the film anytime soon since its release is quite far away, and the DCEU also has several other projects in the pipeline that it would logically want to take care of first.  (source: screenrant.com)

(ROHN ROMULO)