| Shazam! | |
 | |
| General Information | |
| Directed by: | David F. Sandberg |
| Produced by: | Geoff Johns Jon Berg Dany Garcia Dwayne Johnson |
| Written by: | Henry Gayden Story: Darren Lemke |
| Released Date: | April 5, 2019 (United States) |
| Previous Film: | The Adventures of Captain Marvel (Different franchise) |
| Next Film: | Shazam! Fury of the Gods |
Shazam! is a 2019 superhero comedy film, based on the DC Comics superhero of the same name. Co-produced by New Line Cinema, DC Films, and The Safran Company and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, it is the seventh installment in the DC Extended Universe. It was released on April 5, 2019.
Plot[]
In winter 1974, in upstate New York, a young Thaddeus Sivana is in the car with his older brother and father while playing with his magic 8 ball. As his father and brother mess around with him, Sivana is mysteriously transported to a strange cave. There, he meets a wizard named Shazam, who introduces him to the Seven Deadly Sins: Lust, Sloth, Pride, Wrath, Gluttony, Greed, and Envy. The wizard informs him that he has spent millennia looking for someone pure of heart and strong in spirit upon whom to grant his magic and name as his champion. Sivana fails when he is tempted by the Sins, attempts to touch a magical ball, and is sent back to the car from which he was transported. He causes a commotion and the resulting fuss causes the father to crash, injuring their father on ice. The magic 8 ball reads “find us”, (presumably sent by the Sins).
Many years later, four-year old Billy Batson is at a carnival with his mother, who is playing darts in vain to win a stuffed tiger. Billy's mother resigns herself to winning a pendant that she gives to Billy. Afterward, Billy loses the pendant ball and chases after it becoming separated from his mother. Lost, he is picked up by police who place Billy in a foster home.
In present-day Philadelphia, a now 14-year-old Billy lures some police officers to a pawn shop and locks them in while he uses their computer to search for information regarding his mother. Traveling to the address of a "Rachel Batson", however, a different person answers before the police arrive to take him in. A social service worker introduces him to the Vasquez family, and Billy meets the rest of the family, Eugene, Darla, Pedro, Mary, and Freddy.
Back in an office of Sivana Industries, a woman is talking to a doctor through Skype about the wizard's lair. The doctor gets a video from the woman and is revealed to a now-adult Sivana, who leads her to his office, where he reveals he has been tracking sightings around the world. The latest woman took a video of the incident, which shows her clock flashing seven magical symbols, same as the ones he saw as a child. This allows Sivana to write out an incantation on a door that disintegrates the doctor when she touches it and opens a portal to the lair of the wizard, and he thusly enters. Upon entering, Sivana confronts the wizard, touches the tempting energy ball, releases the Sins and absorbs all of them into his right eye, which now glows blue.
At school, the foster children show Billy around the school, as he adjusts. At lunch, Freddy sits with Billy and after trying to pester him for a few minutes - Freddy assumes that Billy stole his collectible Superman bullet - Billy assures him he didn't. At the end of school, Brett Breyer and Burke Breyer drive into Freddy and hit him. As they try to bully and beat him, Freddy's foster siblings try to stand up for him but are unsuccessful. After initially walking away from the family, Billy returns, stands up to the bullies, and hits them with Freddy's crutch. The Breyer brothers give chase and Billy runs away into a subway station and boards a train, narrowly escaping the bullies. While on the train, symbols appear and he enters the Rock of Eternity.
There, the wizard reveals that he is the last remaining member of seven wizards and had previously given his powers to another champion, but that champion, however, used his powers for revenge, killing numerous people and releasing the Sins into the world. The wizard vowed since to never pass on his power until he found someone who possessed a pure heart. He chooses Billy, who has to say the word Shazam to obtain the wizard's power. Billy says the word and transforms into an adult superhero, and the wizard disappears. Billy, in his new form, is then returned to the train. Billy returns to the foster home and meets with Freddy to seek advice. They begin testing Billy's new abilities including lightning, super speed, strength, and bullet immunity. Returning home, Billy inadvertently says "Shazam" and he is returned to his younger self.
At Sivana Industries, Sivana barges into a board meeting hosted by his brother and father, who had lost the use of his legs in the car accident all those years ago. A confrontation between the siblings results in Sivana throwing his brother out of the window and Sivana shows off his eye and releases the Seven Deadly Sins. Sivana and the Sins slaughter everyone in the room except for his father. Finally, as Sivana is about to leave, his father pleads that he'll give him anything, Sivana asks his father what sin he has committed the most – the response is greed. Thus, Sivana has Greed to eat and kill his father.
Freddy has been posting videos of an empowered Billy practicing his powers, which are going viral. Freddy and Billy are in school and skip school when Billy poses as his superhero alter ego to check them out. Leaving, they get around to test fire, flight, and strength. Happy, they walk through a mall where Billy use's his lightning ability to charge people's cell phones, get free sodas, attempt to purchase a lair from a real estate agent, and finally go to a strip club. Billy comes out and states that they need more money. They go to an ATM, zapping it and taking some of the money which is used to purchase merchandise.
Next day at school - the bullies begin to harass Freddy and Billy again until Freddy tells them he knows the new hero “Red Cyclone” - they don't believe him but he promises and tells them that he'll get him to show up to lunch tomorrow. Freddy and Billy get into a bit of an argument over him just assuming and trying to use Billy for his powers. That night at dinner the father asks the family what they think of the new hero - everyone gives input and Freddy takes a dig at the superhero and then he and Billy get into another argument leaving the rest of the family confused.
At school the next day Billy decides not to attend school because he feels the lack of need, despite Freddy asking for lunch. Billy does various things, taking selfies, and showing off lightning for tips and money. He sees and saves Mary from being hit by a car, and talking to her makes him realize she is upset that, because of college, she will have to leave her family. Billy tries to tell her to do it for herself, but in the process reveals he knows her name and that she's a foster child.
At school, Freddy is surrounded by kids waiting for the superhero, and is humiliated, at the art museum steps Billy is putting on a lighting show saying “lightning with my hands” to the beat of “Eye of the Tiger.” Freddy shows up and tries to talk to him, yet Billy tries to diffuse the situation, shooting lightning that hits a bus across the city, sending it off the side of the bridge. Catching it, Billy puts it on the concrete, only to be promptly told he's not using his powers correctly by Freddy.
Hearing the commotion, Sivana shows up and demands the powers that Billy possesses. Brushing him off, Billy is promptly thrown around and lands in a mall. Sivana hunts him down, but the superhero transforms back into Billy and runs. Freddy travels to the mall in search of Billy and Sivana takes notice, takes him hostage, and demands him to take him to Billy. Back to the foster home, the foster siblings piece together that Billy is the hero. Billy shows up at the foster home and Eugene tells him where to find his birth mother; she is only two subway stops away. Billy rushes out of the house with his foster parents in tow. At the house, Sivana shows up with Freddy and traps the children.
Billy arrives at his mother's apartment complex where his mother informs him that on that day, she purposefully left him with the police because she thought other people would take better care of him that she ever would. Leaving, he receives a call and Sivana tells him to come home. Billy jumps off the apartment building, transforms into the champion, and flies home.
Billy decides to give up his powers to save his family and Sivana opens a magical door to the Rock of Eternity. Picking up the staff, Sivana unleashes the Seven Deadly Sins, who surround Billy and as he's about to give up his powers - Freddy, Darla, Eugene, Mary, and Pedro appear in the lair. Freddie throws his Batarang at Sivana's head and causes a knick that bleeds. Billy grabs the Batarang, sticks it in Sivana's shoulder and flings him across the room, knocking him out. Billy and his family try to escape until Billy remembers how he escaped when he got there - he thinks hard and transports them all back to the city.
Sivana notices the lighting from Billy's transformation and attacks the Carnival, shooting at a Ferris wheel, almost tipping over. Sivana and Billy fight all around the carnival. Getting a hold of the wizard's staff, Billy and his family yell the wizard's name, and transfers his power to his family, transforming them into the Shazam Family, each an adult superhero. Each of the Shazam Family fights a sin while Billy and Sivana fly through the skyline, fighting. Back at the carnival, the family saves people while fighting off the sins. Darla begins to use her superspeed to save the people on the Ferris wheel but she can't get everyone before Pedro is knocked away and the Ferris wheel takes another hit by one of the deadly sins.
As it goes to tip over - Freddy flies in and saves the last two people on it - the Breyer bullies. Billy and Sivana end up on a rooftop and Billy goads the one deadly sin who remains - Envy. It rips itself from Sivana's eye and Billy yells "Shazam!", hurting it. Sivana has knocked off the roof. Billy grabs Sivana, who is now powerless and drags him to the carnival, ripping the magical eye out, imprisoning the sins within it. Saving the day, the Shazam family basks in the cheers of the crowd, takes the eye back to the lair, and return the sins for safekeeping. Billy and Freddy decide this is their lair. Back at the foster home, everyone returns to their original home and are watching a newscast of the carnival instance, with Santa Claus describing the event in a bleeped profane tirade. The Shazam Family all talk and laugh and Billy finally feels happy and safe in accepting a family.
At school, Freddy sits down at lunch and the entire table leaves so all his siblings come and sit next to him. The bullies show up and ask if he's still friends with red cyclone - the champion superhero shows up and tells the school how Freddy showed him everything it means to be a hero and that he also brought another friend – Superman. Freddy is stunned.
In the mid-credits scene, Sivana is in a prison cell in Rock Falls Penitentiary doodling the symbols all over the wall until he's interrupted by Mister Mind, who tells him of the pillars of evil that will come together and the seven realms of magic will be under their control. In a post-credits scene, Billy is shown trying to talk to fish like Aquaman.
Cast[]
- Zachary Levi as Shazam
- Asher Angel as Billy Batson
- Mark Strong as Thaddeus Sivana
- Jack Dylan Grazer as Freddy Freeman
- Adam Brody as Shazam Jr.
- Djimon Hounsou as The Wizard
- Faithe Herman as Darla Dudley
- Meagan Good as Shazam Lightning
- Grace Fulton as Mary Bromfield
- Michelle Borth as Lady Shazam
- Ian Chen as Eugene Choi
- Ross Butler as Shazam Thunder
- Jovan Armand as Pedro Peña
- D.J. Cotrona as Shazam Strong
- Marta Milans as Rosa Vasquez
- Cooper Andrews as Victor Vazquez
- David J. MacNeil as Mr. Bryer
- Natalia Safran as Portia Sivana
- John Glover as Thaddeus Sivana's unnamed estranged father
- David F. Sandberg as Mister Mind
Development[]
New Line Cinema was the original studio company that was developing this film but the it was later absorbed and taken over by Warner Bros.
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson was at one point, during early development of this movie, in talks to play the character of Black Adam however it is not known if he is still attached to the film.
Following the success of Warner's film noir-inspired Batman film The Dark Knight and the commercial failure of its lighter, family-friendly Speed Racer during the summer of 2008, August departed from the project after being forced to make the film's script more in line with The Dark Knight's serious tone. In the summer of 2009, it was announced that Bill Birch and JSA/52 co-author Geoff Johns were assigned to write the screenplay, while Segal remained attached as director. In August 2010, Los Angeles Times columnist Geoff Boucher reported that discussions had begun to possibly cancel the theatrical Shazam! movie and do a live-action series for prime time network television instead; by December 2013, Segal reported that the film would not be happening.
In 2012, Geoff Johns stated "Oh, no, Shazam!'s always...There's always a possibility for Shazam!. There's always talk about Shazam!. And I can't get into the specifics on that, but yeah, there's hope for Shazam."
However, on April 28, 2014, The Wall Street Journal revealed an upcoming slate of Warner Bros. films based on DC Comics properties, including a Shazam film to be potentially released in 2016. Dwayne Johnson confirmed the project and his attachment on August 20, 2014, officially announcing his casting as Black Adam on September 3, 2014. Shazam, still a New Line Cinema production being released through Warner Bros., is being executive produced by Toby Emmerich and screenwriter Darren Lenke of Jack the Giant Slayer and Turbo, has been hired to write the script. Emmerich told Entertainment Weekly in an interview that the film will have a tone unto itself separate from the concurrent Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice film: with a sense of fun and humor, but with real stakes and an anti-hero version of Black Adam. On October 15, 2014, Warner Bros. announced Shazam for a 2019 release as the eighth installment of the DC Extended Universe. Actors Derek Theler and Alan Ritchson have expressed interest for the role of Shazam. Henry Gayden announced that he is writing the film. In July, David F. Sandberg was confirmed as director of the film with production is planned to start in early 2018.