SHAZAM FOOTAGE LEAKED! (I think...really?)

Well, the production has wrapped, and no doubt the various editors and special effects people are  working their little tails off trying to make the new "SHAZAM!" movie as awesome as possible, and of course the PR department is working every bit as hard to make everyone THINK that it is as awesome as possible.

So we got these pictures so far...

 

...which are essentially confirming what has been said about what this movie will be since the beginning: "Big" with superheroes (though there was one article that did not catch the "Big" was a movie title and presented the quotation as "...it's big with superheroes.").

Sidenote: The director, David F. Sandberg, used Instagram to post cryptic pictures allegedly symbolizing the progress of his Journey as he researched and planned for the making of this movie. I wonder if the Coke cans in these pictures (below) had anything to to with the above scene?

As a further sidenote, I must have missed this particular picture on Sandberg's Instagram. I was watching them the bet that I could, and was very heartened by the presence of Fawcett publications and action figures of the classic Captain Marvel. It made me think that maybe this movie would be about the original Captain Marvel, and not this New 52 character named "Shazam." Had I seen the picture above, I would have known those hopes were futile.

In any event, that oft-repeated line, "'Big' with superheroes," kept on hitting me. The original Captain MArvel,. of which I am a fan, was not a boy in a grown-up's body, but ever since Roy Thomas created "SHAZAM! A New Beginning" after the "Crisis on Infinite Earths" in 1986, that has been the dominant interpretation of the hero. Sometimes it has led to some interesting dramatic story twists and turns, like in DC's "Underworld Unleashed" miniseries, "JSA" series from the 1990's, and "Young Justice" animated series.

But all too often it has been played for goofy humor, starting with Keith Giffen's and Kevin McGuire's post-"Crisis" "Justice League."

So now. apparently, someone showed some preview footage of the new movie in Ukraine, and thanks to the magic of the Internet (through which Asher Angel, who plays Billy Batson shared it), we can see it!

https://twitter.com/sonofjody/status/1018852311441895424?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1018852311441895424&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.comicbookmovie.com%2Fshazam%2Fshazam-battles-doctor-sivana-in-this-leaked-footage-from-the-dc-movie-a162139

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

THE HERO IS DOING THE "BIG" PIANO DANCE!

So that's why they have been harping on that early Tom Hanks movie! So that when people saw this scene they would get the pop-culture reference!

But I really think that is a cheap joke. Aside from the fact that F.A.O. Schwartz, the world-famous toy store tin which the original scene took place, is not there any more, I will positively cringe if I have to watch the Zachary Levy as the hero dancing on a floor piano in a toy store!

I was ready to accept that this character had a different name from the original hero. He was different enough that it was better that he not be named "Captain Marvel." But now...I just don't know if I can take it.

In any event, here is the rest of the footage...

https://twitter.com/twitter/statuses/1018853705469136898

So we see the Cola scene, some characters flying through the air as if hurled by the Force, and Mark Strong as Sivana catching the hero's punch. We also see flashes of the original New 52 story that introduced this character.

This all confirms that this is an adaptation of the New 52 story, with Sivana's role enlarged to make up for the lack of Black Adam. It's all too brief to tell for sure how good it will look in its final form., andin the end, this film willbe judged on its execution.

Hurry up and watch these clips, because Asher says he will be taking them down soon!

You can see the full article from ComicBookMovie here.

So what do you think of these clips? Post your impressions below and subscribe to this blog for the most insightful updates on the many different Captain Marvels!

Filimg of "SHAZAM!" is over, promo push begins!

Well, it's in the can, and now it is up to the editors to put it together and the PR people to get people to go see it!

That's right, a few weeks ago it was announced the the filming of the new DC movie "SHAZAM!" based on the New 52 character who is a re-interpretation of the original Captain Marvel, was wrapped, the first promo pictures have been released, and the director has even started making his own spoofs.

Of course, this is all in keeping with the expectations and statements that this is going to be a "lighter" movie than those in the latest wave of DC superhero movies.

I may write something more insightful later, but this is a very busy week for me!

Here is the article to which this post specifically refers.

And here is a little article with the image that appears above in which the director talks about the reasons for the costume design.

ASHER ANGEL as BILLY BATSON in "SHAZAM!" (Real News!)

So the casting rumors, speculation, suggestions, etc fall away one by one as another casting choice for DC's "Shazam!" movie is revealed!

As reported in Variety, Asher Angel, Best known in his young career as Jonah Beck in the TV series "Andi Mack," will be playing the young boy who transforms into the World's Mightiest Mortal by saying the magic word, "SHAZAM!"

Not being familiar with his work, I cannot critique the choice on the basis of his acting chops, but he does look the part. Of course, Billy Batson was drawn generically enough that almost any young boy with black hair could look the part (in fact, my trans-gender ex-girlfriend went through a phase in his transition in which he could have played the role - ahem - marvelously).

At age 15, Asher is, of course, the first actual minor playing this role in a live-action film or TV show. The previous two actors, Frankie Coghlan, Jr in "The Adventures of Captain Marvel" and Michael Gray in "Shazam!" were both securely in their 20's when they landed the role.

One thing that will be interesting to me is if Asher and Zachary Levi (who is playing the hero) will be able to sync up their performances to create a believable illusion of the same person inhabiting both bodies. Of course, back in the original Fawcett comics from 1940 - 1953 and the DC comics from 1973 - 1986 Billy Batson and Captain Marvel had separate personalities, though they shared memories. They would refer to each other in the third person, buy each other Christmas presents, and even had an argument at least once! It was only when Roy Thomas created "Shazam! A New Beginning" that the concept of Captain Marvel as a boy in a grown-up's body began. This was after the Crisis on infinite Earths (one of the first big company-wide crossover events in comics) re-ordered the original DC multiverse and put Captain Marvel and Superman on the same planet.

While Roy Thomas played this dynamic for drama, the new Justice League series that came out that year played int for laughs, having Captain Marvel suggest singing "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" as the team grew bored during a long flight, for instance. His juvenility led to him being underestimated in his value to the team, and he left after just a few issues.

Though DC dropped the ball on a continuing series with the World's Mightiest Mortal (a topic for another time), Jerry Ordway picked it up and re-booted the character in 1994 in "The Power Of Shazam!" graphic noel and ongoing series. He maintained the boy-as-adult-hero paradigm, balancing drama and humor. From that point there was going back. The Ordway version became the version that DC maintained until they began the New 52 in 2012. Now the default assumption is of the paradigm is "Big" as a superhero, and every appearance of the character follows that theme.

Several animated cartoon movies and series have done well with that in the balance of comedy and drama, but to me, it is not what the character was originally created to be. The wish fulfillment is that when you say a magic word, you can transform into a grownup! Your mind changes so you can think grown-up thought, handle grown-up situations. It's sort of like "Being John Malkovitch" as a superhero. You exist inside the mind and body of a mighty superhero, sharing experiences and memories, but having the time of your life on not being psychologically tortured like Roy Thomas' invention of Rick Jones and Captain Mar-Vell.

But the director, David F. Sandberg has come out and said that it will be "Big" with superheroes, so I guess that is what we are going to see.

One interesting thing about "Andi Mack" that I just discovered in researching this post is that it is "the first series on The Disney Channel to depict a character coming out as gay" (ABC News). The character of Cyrus on the show, played by Joshua Rush, came out just last month, breaking ground for the youth-oriented, family-friendly network. This adds to a surprisingly long list of connections between the name of Captain Marvel and LGBT culture. This list goes all the way back to the "Adventures of Captain Marvel" 1941 movie serial, in which the role of the wizard Shazam was played by Nigel deBrulier, who was involved in an allegedly all-gay silent film production of Oscar Wilde's Salome, a clip of which appeared in the documentary "Before Stonewall"

One last interesting thing about this casting choice. Just as the hero will be played by a man who shares my initials, ZL, the actor playing Billy Batson shares a birthday with me: September 6! This movie is becoming more and more entwined with me by the week!

And here is the now-traditional "clickbait roundup" of web articles carrying this news...
Collider 
Deadline
comicbook.com
bleedingcool 
Slash/Film
The Hollywood Reporter
MovieWeb
The A.V. Club
cinelinx
Den of Geek
Movie Pilot
Nerd Reactor
Heroic Hollywood
The Wrap
Screen Rant

Shazam! Movie Update: The Hero Will Be...

John Cena and Joshua Sasse are front-runners for the role of Captain Marvel in the "Shazam!" movie! Billy Batson's character description is out! A script has been written and the plot synopsis is out!

Yes, folks, that is what the clickbait media are saying, and I have just done my service to my click-count by putting all the keywords in the first paragraph.

So let's start with the big news first: The hero's name. Back in 2007, DC pretty much gave up the fight of having a superhero with a name that could not be put on the cover of the book. The trouble (as regular readers of this blog and viewers of the associated YouTube channel and members and followers of the associated Yahoo and Facebook groups and Facebook page know) is that when DC licensed the original Captain Marvel from Fawcett Publications, Marvel Comics had trademarked the name "Captain Marvel," so DC decided to title the comic book for this character "SHAZAM!" (all caps, with the exclamation point). Shazam has since been used as the trademark for all merchandise, properties, and productions surrounding and involving this character. It is therefore understandable that people who would never read the book, watch the TV show, or play the video game would never know that the hero's name was really Captain Marvel.

So as part of a company-wide crossover event, Captain Marvel underwent a transformation in which he became a sort of "guardian of magic" character on the Rock of Eternity with the title "Lord Marvel," and his role on Earth was taken over by the former Captain Marvel, Jr, Freddy Freeman. He had recently lost his powers, however, and to gain them back he had to undergo a series of trials chronicled in the 12-part series "The Tirials of Shazam." At the end of that series , Freddy emerged in the classic red suit with the superhero name that matched the acronym of the source of his powers, Solomon, Hercules, Apollo (who replaced Atlas after he was killed), Zeus, Achilles, and Mercury; SHAZAM!

Dan Didio himself confided to me how relieved he was that at last they have a hero whose name is the same as the title.

That turned out to be temporary, however. The old wizard named Shazam, whom everyone thought was dead, returned and took his name back, and Freddy was now the new Captain Marvel.

But before anything else could happen it was 2012, and CD came out with the New 52, reinventing all their characters, some more than others. In the case of Captain Marvel, his powers changed, his origin changed, his costume changed, and his name was now "Shazam."

Of course conspiracy theorists, semi-fans, and other folks who have not had the good fortune of growing up with this character and having researched the legal history and ins-and-outs of the trademark and copyright and other issues going on, started assuming things like it was now illegal to call Captain Marvel Captain Marvel, or that Marvel Comics had sued, or any number of other reasons why the change happened. So the next thing you know, there were YouTube videos proclaiming to tell the "History of Shazam" and talking about the character as if he used to have the name "Captain Marvel."

Just to make things more confusing, the universe of the "New 52" turned out to be part of a multiverse of 52 universes, one of which (Earth-5) was the home of the original Captain Marvel.

Then, in 2014, Dwayne (the Rock) Johnson broke the news that the Shazam! movie project was up and running again (you can read back through my previous posts to follow the history of its first incarnation from 2003 - 2009). There was a resurgence of interest in the character, with a concurrent surge in YouTube videos and clickbait articles about him, along with the usual casting rumors and speculation. With each of those videos and articles was, either in the content or in the comments (usually both) something not 100% accurate about the history of the character and his ownership and where the rights lay regarding the character's name and its use.

One thing was never made clear, though, either by accident, design, or legal obligation: What would the name of the hero if this new movie be? Most reports of the movie would use the New 52 character's name, as it was the same as the the title of the movie and besides, either the writers never knew the name as anything different, or they assumed that the name had been changed for good. Illustrations representing the character would be of both the New 52's "Shazam" and the classically-based Captain Marvel. Moreover, since there had been several reboots of the character since 1986, much of the material available was of these reboots, and not the original character. This made for some interesting mish-mashes from those who did not know their history.

So as people would be saying "He will always be Captain Marvel to me!" and "Get over it, it's illegal for DC to use that name!" and so on, I would chime in, pointing out that the studio had not yet said whether the hero would be the New 52 version,named "Shazam," or based on the original, and named "Captain Marvel."

Well, if the words released by thathashtagshow are to be believed as genuine, it looks like they have decided. Below are the "plot synopsis" for the movie and casting notice for Billy Batson:

"Based on the DC Comics character “Shazam!” Billy Batson becomes Captain Marvel, the world’s mightiest mortal, when he says the magic word “Shazam! The name is an acronym for six gods and heroes of the ancient world as well as their attributes. The wisdom of Solomon, strength of Hercules, stamina of Atlas, power of Zeus, courage of Achilles and speed of Mercury."

"Male, 12-15 years old. A teenager who becomes Captain Marvel, the world’s mightiest mortal. Granted access to incredible powers by the wizard Shazam, he speaks the wizard’s name and is struck by a lightning bolt that gives him the powers of the gods."

If that  isn't enough evidence, the director, David F. Sandberg, has been posting a picture each day in his Instagram page, and here is the latest...

Not a "New 52" to be seen! Nor a "New Beginning," a "Power of..." a "Magic of..." or even a "With One Magic Word..."! Just classic, Fawcett Captain Marvel comics, a couple of action figures of the classic Cap, a tiger, a worm, and a bunch of cans of Coke Zero. And a picture of the King of Sweden. In a Viking helmet.

There is a nifty in-depth analysis of the picture by Mark Siefert at BleedingCool.

Whatever else this says, it does not say "New 52." It says CAPTAIN MARVEL!

Next: About those casting rumors, plot details, and possible connections to "Flashpoint"...

Geoff Johns Confirms Black Adam will not be in SHAZAM! REAL NEWS! (Part 3)

This is the third part of the three-part blog update based on the news of the past few days.

When last we left our story, we had mentioned that Dwayne Johnson (the actor whose pro wrestling persona is known as "The Rock") had referred to the hero in the upcoming DC movie "Shazam!" as "Captain Marvel." Whether this was a slip of the tongue, as DC may be using the New 52 version of the character, whose name is "Shazam," as the hero, or a reveal that the hero will be some version of the original Captain Marvel, is still undetermined, and was not the point of the comment. The point was that the plan for what had originally been announced (Johnson appearing as Black Adam in "Shazam!") had been changed:

"What we decided to do was to create a scenario where Black Adam has his stand-alone movie, and Captain Marvel, Shazam, has his stand-alone movie," he told MTV. "We're building our world that way, and then we can come together at some point."

So that was back in April. Of course, the Interwebs being what they are, what this exactly meant had swirled around, so apparently someone had to get the situation clarified. Thus, it should not be a surprise that just a couple of days ago, CinemaBlend posted an article titled "DC Sets the Record Straight on The Rock Appearing in Shazam." In this article they posted the following quotation:

"We haven't announced any casting yet. But Dwayne isn't going to be in this movie. He's still doing Black Adam, but he won't be in Shazam!"

This was from an interview on Yahoo movies earlier that day. Interestingly, this article is weighing in that the hero in the movie will be named "Shazam."

Reasons for this have been stated to include things about Johnson' schedule and so forth, which is reasonable, considering how freakin' busy the guy is. But what this also means is that what could have been potentially the biggest attraction of the "Shazam!" movie is now not a part of it. Consipiracy theorists could easily rave that this is another way of DC screwing over the character. Neither Dr. Sivana nor Mr. Mind, Captain Marvel's two other archest enemies, may not carry the same degree of gravitas into a movie. They certainly would not be able to put up the same kind of physical challenge (barring the introduction of a juiced-up Magnificus Sivana or Mr. Mind commanding Mr. Atom against the World's Mightiest Mortal). Perhaps we could say that the announcement and all the business towards the production of a "Shazam!" movie was just a ploy to lure Johnson to be in a DC movie, and now that he is not going to be in "Shazam!" the big-screen dreams of the Big Red Cheese will go the way of the previous versions of the movie that died in pre-production hell in the '00's

We will see...

So to wrap up the news for the week (much of which happens to be coming out of San Diego Comic Con):

The DC movie "Shazam!" has been announced to start filming in February 2018.

David F. Sandberg has been announced to direct it.

Dwayne Johnson's portrayal of the character Black Adam has been announced to not be in it.

Digest and comment, folks!

PS: Here is a bonus link to Hollywood Reporter's "exclusive" announcement of all this news, complete with an exciting video!

SHAZAM! Director Announced! REAL NEWS!

Part two of a three-part post series.

This is not a full-service "clickbait roundup," but in my research I could not avoid finding a few articles and posts about the news and thus are linking them in the body of this post. I hate the Interwebs.

In my previous post, I talked about the apparent news from four days ago of the start date of DC's "Shazam!" movie and how it relates to Marvel's "Captain Marvel" movie. This post is about the announcement the day after that of the director announced for "Shazam!"

Comparisons between the "Shazam!" and "Captain Marvel" movie projects are inevitable on this blog for several reasons. For one thing "Shazam" is the trademark by which DC markets the original superhero named Captain Marvel and his several reboots and reinterpretations under their watch. For another, these movies were announced and are scheduled to be released at about the same time. Finally, of course, this blog is about all those superheroes that have gone by the name of "Captain Marvel."

So now, about a month or so after Marvel announced that Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck will be directing their "Captain Marvel," DC has announced that David F. Sandberg will be directing "Shazam!"

I had never heard of this guy before, but that proves nothing, so after I saw the this news on CinemaBlend , I decided to look up this guy a little bit. IMDB shows that apparently he has directed a bunch of shorts and documentaries and a couple of horror features, has also served as writer, producer, cinematographer, composer, and even actor on a bunch of those projects. Wikipedia describes him as a "freelance animator and maker of documentary and short films" before his breakout film, "Lights Out," which was a short from 2013 that became a feature in 2016. Now he is going to be directing a big superhero movie.

The most notable example of someone with a limited resume being given a big genre project somewhat outside of his previous experience that comes to my mind is David Lynch with his version of Frank Herbert's "Dune." David Lynch is a very deliberate director who had displayed a "quirky" sense of filmmaking, but he had never done a movie with more than a half-dozen people and more that a half-dozen dollars before, and it showed. Though the movie was moody and visually arresting, the battle scenes were awkward, the acting was uneven, the script was confusing (especially after the movie had been edited down by the studio for a shorter running time), and had an ending payoff that was different from the book, with a result that would have made continuation of the series impossible. It really seemed like Lynch's brilliant previous efforts, "Eraserhead" and "The Elephant Man," had ill-prepared him for a sprawling, quasi-mystical, stellar-political epic (I personally thought that David Lean would have been a good choice, not just because he had directed a great epic film in a desert but because he understood how to make sprawling, geopolitical epics).

However, I have zero familiarity with Sandberg's work, so I am going to have to spend some time watching his films to pass a preliminary judgement on the wisdom of this decision. He has his own website with a lot of videos, so that seems like a good place to start. Maybe there is something about his visual style, his sense of humor, his understanding of children, his sense of wonder, or some other characteristic that I imagine should be a part of a "Shazam!" movie that makes him ideally suited for the job.

For his part, he has made a few statements in public about this. Heroic Hollywood shared his announcement confirming his assignment. In this announcement, Sandberg said nothing disappointing or even surprising at all:

“I’m very happy to say that is true and it’s really awesome. I’m really looking forward to it.”

“Yeah, just because it’s the ultimate wish fulfillment, you know? Every kid wants to be Superman and here’s the kid who gets the chance to be Superman and, you know, finds out that it could also be a challenge.”

“I definitely plan on doing more horror […] but it’ll be fun to try something that’s a little bit different.”

Apparently, he also chats on Reddit, and ComicBookMovie dutifully reported that he said essentially the same thing all over again.

"To keep it general and not go into script details I'd say the core thing that's appealing to me is the wish fulfillment," said Sandberg. "What kid doesn't want to be Superman? This is a kid that basically gets to become Superman."

...and in searching for more of what he has said on Reddit, I found a San Diego Comic Con interview with him. I am going to have to watch that and comment on it later.

One thing I have noticed, though, is how it still seems uncertain whether the hero is going to be named "Shazam." The CinemaBlend article referenced above says, parenthetically, that "the hero was known as Captain Marvel before the New 52 relaunch." On the DCEU Reddit board, the "Shazam!" movie is illustrated by a picture of the New 52 character.

On the other hand, on IMDB, in a description written by "Hellfreezer," it says "he is the holder of the power of S.H.A.Z.A.M; he is Captain Marvel." In an interview with Kevin Smith for IMDB posted on BleedingCool, when Smith asks if Sandberg if he is doing any comic book movies soon, Sandberg relpied "Shazam." Smith exclaims "Captain Marvel?" and Sandberg answers, "yes." Then, of course, in Den of Geek's article about the Sandberg announcement, Dwayne Johnson is quoted as saying:

"What we decided to do was to create a scenario where Black Adam has his stand-alone movie, and Captain Marvel, Shazam, has his stand-alone movie," he told MTV. "We're building our world that way, and then we can come together at some point."

Wait, what? Is there more real news? Stay tuned...

NEXT: The Rock lays down the news!

If you want to see David F. Sandberg's previous work...