Shazam! Director Gives Update About The Sequel

Zachary Levi and Jack Dylan Grazer in Shazam
(Image credit: (Warner Bros))

In recent weeks, it’s been made apparent that COVID-19 is not only threatening the future of the release of new movies to theaters, but the shooting schedules of quite a few movies and television shows. Among them is Matt ReevesThe Batman, which recently stopped rolling cameras in London to take the necessary precautions to prevent the spread of the virus. Could the rest of the DC slate be affected? Shazam 2 director David F. Sandberg has provided an update on the upcoming sequel:

We'll see how long this goes, because I mean, we were going to start shooting this year. But, I mean, who knows how long this will go on? I mean, it feels like every movie gets delayed now, so we'll see what happens with Shazam!. But so far, I've been working on the script. We can still do that, so that's being done and then, yeah, we'll just see in a couple of months how it looks, you know?

It’s an honest and fair update from the filmmaker behind the 2019 superhero flick. Shazam 2 is currently expected to begin filming in early summer to get ready for its release date exactly two years from now: April 1, 2022. The prior film went through a four-month shoot and wrapped shooting just shy of a year before its release date. So far, cancellations have not impeded much farther into the summer than June, but as of right now it’s tough to tell if more push backs will be necessary.

However, Black Adam is reaching a closer deadline since it’s expected to hit theaters in December 2021 following a summer shooting schedule. Before the movies were split in two, Shazam and Black Adam were actually set to be in the same movie. But per these words from David F. Sandberg to ComicBook, it doesn’t sound like the plan for the two DC characters are expected to collide:

No, I haven't talked to [the Black Adam team]. I mean, I assume DC is keeping tabs, that they have the bigger plan. But I don't know what they're doing. I'm just curious to see it, you know?

The good news here is that if Black Adam gets delayed and Shazam 2 stays on schedule, they may not both have to shift. Lucky for the DCEU, its more recent vision consists of standalone features. Marvel might have a much tougher time shifting things around following Black Widow’s delay.

Another factor to keep in mind for Shazam 2 is the ages of the kids playing Billy Batson, Freddy Freeman and the rest of the super family. There’s a priority on getting to the sequel since they are each aging by the minute. Zachary Levi’s younger counterpart is already 17 years old and waiting too long would make the transformations between him and Shazam a bit ridiculous.

For now, Wonder Woman 1984’s release date has been moved from June to August 14, 2020. The Batman is sticking to its place on the calendar for now and The Suicide Squad looks to be in a good spot since it wrapped filming just a couple weeks before productions started shutting down.

Stay tuned here on CinemaBlend for more updates regarding the movie release calendar as they come.

Sarah El-Mahmoud
Staff Writer

Sarah El-Mahmoud has been with CinemaBlend since 2018 after graduating from Cal State Fullerton with a degree in Journalism. In college, she was the Managing Editor of the award-winning college paper, The Daily Titan, where she specialized in writing/editing long-form features, profiles and arts & entertainment coverage, including her first run-in with movie reporting, with a phone interview with Guillermo del Toro for Best Picture winner, The Shape of Water. Now she's into covering YA television and movies, and plenty of horror. Word webslinger. All her writing should be read in Sarah Connor’s Terminator 2 voice over.