Warner Bros. has moved the release date for Shazam 2 back by seven months. In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, the studio has already been forced to make some dramatic changes to its slate for 2020, pulling summer tentpoles like In the Heights and SCOOB off the calendar indefinitely. On the DCEU side of things, the studio has similarly postponed Wonder Woman 1984 from its prior spot in June to August (and even that may not stick).

With production on Matt Reeves' The Batman currently shut-down because of the virus and filming on upcoming DCEU movies like Shazam 2 and Black Adam delayed as a direct result, fans have been anticipating additional changes to the DCEU's schedule arriving for the past couple weeks. Today, that process got underway, with The Batman shifting back a few months to October 2021 and the perennially delayed The Flash (unexpectedly) scooting up a month from its most recent spot in July 2022.

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WB has also confirmed Shazam 2 will now arrive on November 4, 2022, approximately seven months later than its previous spot on April 1 the same year. Returning director David F. Sandberg recently confirmed the original plan was to begin shooting the sequel this year, but that may no longer be in the cards.

Shazam Asher Angel Jack Dylan Grazer
Asher Angel and Jack Dylan Grazer in Shazam!

Given it's still a couple years off from hitting theaters, WB presumably moved Shazam 2 in anticipation of future changes being made to its release slate. Because of the coronavirus, the studio has been forced to shut-down production on a number of major tentpoles scheduled for 2021, most notably The Matrix 4 and Fantastic Beasts 3 (which hasn't even started filming yet). Depending on how WB approaches things, it could elect to shift them back to late 2021 and early 2022, respectively, in order to make room for postponed 2020 releases like In the Heights and SCOOB. In fact, it's possible the studio is already preparing to do just that, which is why it went and pulled Shazam 2 out of April 2022 to free up that spot for another equally-big tentpole.

Overall, though, this delay could be both a blessing and curse to Shazam 2. On the plus side, Sandberg and his creative team have more room to breathe now - not only when it comes to pre-production and filming, but also having time to refine the superhero movie's editing and extensive visual effects during post-production. On the other hand, this also means the young stars of Shazam will be all the older when shooting on the sequel gets underway. A similar problem led to IT Chapter Two (awkwardly) using CGI de-aging to make its kid actors seem as young as they were in the first movie, so hopefully Shazam 2 will avoid having to do this and find a way to organically incorporate their rapid growth into its story.

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Source: Warner Bros.

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