Shazam! Fury of the Gods is coming to theaters six months ahead of schedule. The original Shazam!, which introduced DCEU fans to the new live-action version of the titular hero (originally named Captain Marvel), came to theaters in April 2019. Despite fierce competition from other superhero properties that same year (including the box office juggernauts Avengers: Endgame, Captain Marvel, Spider-Man: Far From Home, and Joker), Shazam! still ended up as one of the top 20 domestic films of the year. The film starred Zachary Levi as Shazam, the superhero alter ego of 14-year-old Billy Batson (Asher Angel).
The upcoming sequel Shazam! Fury of the Gods reteams original director David F. Sandberg with screenwriter Henry Gayden along with new co-writer Chris Morgan (Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs and Shaw). In addition to Levi and Asher, the returning cast will also include Jack Dylan Grazer as Freddy Freeman and Djimon Hounsou as the original Shazam, the ancient wizard who bestowed Billy with his powers. New additions to the cast include West Side Story's Rachel Zegler, Helen Mirren, and Lucy Liu.
Shazam! Fury of the Gods was originally slated to come to theaters on June 23, 2023, following several COVID-19 related delays. However, following a shakeup in the Warner Bros. lineup which caused films like Black Adam and The Flash to be pushed down the schedule, Shazam! 2 is being pushed up by 6 months. The film's new release date is December 16, 2022, the slot previously held by Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, which has been delayed along with many other DC titles.
Shazam! 2 has been in the can since filming wrapped on August 31, 2021. The film has long been in post-production, with David F. Sandberg recently confirming that they were making progress on VFX. It’s probably the case that, even though Shazam! 2 was among the closest DCEU films to completion, it was given the latest date on the currently announced slate to make room for bigger franchise tentpoles with more box office pull, like Aquaman and The Flash. However, now that those films are moving further down the schedule, the more polished Shazam! is ready to step in and take the lead.
Assuming that the current 20th Century Studios date will hold firm, as the company’s president recently promised, Shazam! 2 will now be opening opposite James Cameron’s Avatar 2. This will likely not bode well for Shazam!. Although it still has the DC brand behind it, Aquaman 2 (which is following the first DCEU film to make over $1 billion) presented that long-delayed sequel to the record-breaking Avatar with much sturdier competition. However, given Shazam! Fury of the Gods' now much closer proximity to the Dwayne Johnson project Black Adam, which is a spinoff of a Shazam villain, that might lend the project a boost.
Source: Warner Bros.
