Even though it’s only been in theaters for a week, it’s clear from the box office receipts, thus far, “Shazam! Fury of the Gods” is not going to be a massive hit during its theatrical run. That marks two DC films in a row that have greatly underperformed at the box office (the other being “Black Adam” back in October of last year). Interestingly, a new report offers a claim that perhaps Dwayne Johnson might have been a deciding factor in a number of things not only related to “Black Adam” but also the new ‘Shazam’ sequel. 

Continue reading Dwayne Johnson Reportedly Nixed Post-Credits Scenes In ‘Black Adam’ & ‘Shazam 2’ That Would Have Linked The Franchises at The Playlist.

The marketing push for “Shazam! Fury of the Gods” has been an odd one, no doubt. The questions about the film’s future amid the soft reboot from new DC Studios co-CEOs, James Gunn and Peter Safran, dominated the discourse. The only thing people seemed to care about is whether or not a “Shazam 3” was in the cards.

Continue reading ‘Shazam 2’ Post-Credits Scenes Set Up A Sequel, But The Opening Box Office Paints A Grim Future at The Playlist.

When James Gunn announced the very ambitious slate of five films and five TV series that will kick off the new DCU, there were some notable absences. Namely, there was hardly anything (outside of “Peacemaker” and “The Suicide Squad” characters) crossing over from the previous universe to the new one. No “Wonder Woman 3.” No “Aquaman 3.” And no “Shazam 3.” What’s more, Gunn didn’t outright deny that any of those films could happen under his new regime.

Continue reading ‘Shazam’ Director Says Franchise Could Continue In New DCU But Only If People Support The New Film at The Playlist.

One thing that has become readily apparent in the promotion of the upcoming superhero film, “Black Adam,” is that Dwayne Johnson and the folks involved with the project don’t really want to talk about Shazam. This is interesting because the characters of Black Adam and Shazam have been linked for more than half a century in the comics, serving as sort of yin and yang versions of the same idea.

Continue reading Dwayne Johnson Thought It Would Be A “Disservice” If Black Adam Showed Up In ‘Shazam’ at The Playlist.

Although Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson started his career in professional wrestling, he doesn’t often play the heel. Since his transition from WWE intimidator supreme to international movie star, he’s mostly portrayed well-intentioned action heroes with hearts of gold. That’s due to change with “Black Adam,” in which Johnson will make his long-awaited entrance into the DC Extended Universe as the titular supervillain. 

READ MORE: The Snyder Cut Is The Past: Here’s The Full Future Slate Of DC Superhero Films & TV Projects

“He’s not the boy scout superhero,” said producer Hiram Garcia.

Continue reading ‘Black Adam’ Trailer: Dwayne Johnson Makes Long Anticipated DC Universe Debut As Ancient Super Entity at The Playlist.

John Cena has seemingly fully embraced his first superhero role as Peacemaker in both “The Suicide Squad” and the just-released HBO Max series, “Peacemaker.” I mean, the guy shows up to interviews dressed as the character. It’s clear the actor is excited about finally getting a mainstream superhero role. And in a new interview with the Happy. Sad. Confused. podcast, that enthusiasm seems to stem from the fact that he’s been rejected for several big superhero roles over the years.

Continue reading John Cena Says He Was Rejected For Roles In ‘Shazam,’ ‘Deadpool’ & Several Marvel Films at The Playlist.

Fans of Marvel Studios will probably know that “Shazam” actor Zachary Levi has appeared in an MCU film in the past, notably 2013’s “Thor: The Dark World,” playing the title character’s friend, Fandral. But that wasn’t the first Marvel role that Levi wanted. In fact, he was one of the final people in the running for what would have been a much, much bigger role.

Continue reading Zachary Levi Says He Came Close To Landing Star-Lord In ‘Guardians,’ Which Helped Him Land ‘Shazam’ Lead at The Playlist.

It’s 2021 and if I were to ask superhero film fans to name two actresses they’d like to see star as sibling villains in the new “Shazam!” sequel, it’s highly unlikely they would name Helen Mirren and Lucy Liu. Well, apparently director David F. Sandberg is going to show us why those are the perfect ladies to haunt Zachary Levi’s superhero in the upcoming “Shazam!

Continue reading Lucy Liu Joins The Cast of ‘Shazam! Fury Of The Gods’ As Helen Mirren’s Villainous Sister at The Playlist.

Director David F. Sandberg‘s ‘Shazam!‘ was an endearing family-focused superhero film that explored one of the more interesting power fantasies in comic books, with a kid being endowed with super-human abilities and becoming an adult in the process. The hero has been around as long as the likes DC Comics royalty such as Superman and Batman but still has a ways to go to capture pop-culture at the same level. 

Continue reading ‘Shazam 2’: Oscar-Winner Helen Mirren To Play The Sequel’s Villain Hespera at The Playlist.

It’s been a couple of years since DC Films and Warner Bros. released “Shazam!” And over that time, fans have been wondering when they’d get the sequel to David F. Sandberg’s film. Well, we’ve known for a while now that “Shazam: Fury of the Gods” is coming (not until 2023, however) but little else is known about the feature. Now, just to keep the teases going, THR has revealed one of the major new additions to the cast.

Continue reading “West Side Story’s’ Rachel Zegler Cast In ‘Shazam: Fury Of The Gods’ at The Playlist.

Zachary Levi and the cast of “Shazam!” are apparently sworn to secrecy on the new script for their upcoming movie. And their new castmembers. And pretty much everything that the DC FanDome audience would like to know about the new movie. So if you were looking for significant updates on “Shazam! 2,” this might not have been the panel for you.

READ MORE: ‘Black Adam’: Dwayne Johnson Reveals His Justice Society Adversaries

But that doesn’t mean they didn’t leave us with a little taste of things to come.

Continue reading ‘Shazam! Fury of the Gods’: Zachary Levi And Cast Give Name To Their ‘Shazam!’ Sequel at The Playlist.

Let’s be honest, the Comic-Con@Home event that happened last month was a pretty big letdown. Technical issues aside (and boy, were there plenty of those), the event just didn’t have the same feeling of excitement and surprise that comes with a San Diego Comic-Con. Well, Warner Bros. and DC might just fix that with this month’s DC FanDome virtual event.

READ MORE: Patty Jenkins Talks Amazon Olympics In ‘Wonder Woman 1984’ & Possible Animated Spin-Off Series

For months now, WB/DC has been promoting FanDome, promising that it was going to be a massive, must-watch event that will please fans of DC’s superhero content on the big and small screen.

Continue reading DC FanDome To Feature Virtual Panels For ‘The Batman,’ ‘Suicide Squad,’ ‘Wonder Woman’ & More at The Playlist.

Continue reading Noah Centineo Will Play Atom Smasher In Dwayne Johnson’s ‘Shazam!’ Spinoff ‘Black Adam’ at The Playlist.

We sure do hope you enjoy your mystical DC superheroes because it appears that Warner Bros. is planning on releasing the “Shazam” spin-off film “Black Adam” and “Shazam 2” less than a year apart beginning in late 2021.

READ MORE: Dwayne Johnson Announces ‘Black Adam’ Will Take On ‘Avatar 2’ In December 2021

According to Deadline, WB has announced that Zachary Levi-led “Shazam 2” will arrive in theaters on April 1, 2022.

Continue reading ‘Shazam 2’ Dated For April 2022, Less Than 4 Months After Spin-Off Film ‘Black Adam’ Hits Theaters at The Playlist.

With the official word that Dwayne Johnson’s “Black Adam” is coming in 2021, the talk surrounding the film isn’t so much about when it’s going to happen but more about what the superhero film will include. And according to the star of the flick, “Black Adam” is a solo film, but it will likely have plenty of other heroes filling out its roster.

Speaking to ScreenRant, Johnson confirmed a couple of key aspects to “Black Adam,” including the lack of Shazam and the inclusion of one of DC Comics’ most revered superhero teams.

Continue reading Dwayne Johnson Says ‘Black Adam’ Will Introduce The World To The JSA at The Playlist.

It’s officially happening folks. After a decade of starts and stops, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is actually going to suit up and become “Black Adam” for Warner Bros. And not only did the actor take the time to debut a new piece of art to celebrate the announcement that it’s actually happening, but he was kind enough to give us a release date.

On Instagram, Johnson released a new poster showing an image that hints at what the actor will look like in the black and gold armor of Black Adam in the “Shazam!

Continue reading Dwayne Johnson Announces ‘Black Adam’ Will Take On ‘Avatar 2’ In December 2021 at The Playlist.

After the massive box office success of “Aquaman,” fans, and the folks at Warner Bros., were excited to see what the studio’s newest superhero franchise, “Shazam!” would do in theaters. While the film received pretty glowing reviews and was largely seen as another fun action-adventure film after “Aquaman,” the newest franchise in the DCEU didn’t exactly light up the box office. That being said, it appears that there aren’t just plans for one sequel, but a trilogy, as well as a huge spin-off film.

Continue reading Zachary Levi Says WB Has Wildly Ambitious Plans For 3 ‘Shazam!’ Films & At Least 1 ‘Black Adam’ Film at The Playlist.

It’s the calm before the storm weekend, and Warner Bros./New Line has two success stories coming out of Easter. First up, “The Conjuring” series keeps posting results. The sixth film in the series (‘Conjuring 3’ doesn’t come out until 2020), “The Curse of La Llorona,” a horror spin-off from the series won the weekend singlehandedly with a very nice $26.5 million; even better when you consider the movie cost $9 million to make.

Continue reading ‘The Curse of La Llorona’ Scares Up Easter Weekend Win [Box Office] at The Playlist.

If you find a slightly strange Hollywood premise recurring through film history — as we often do on this genre-hopping podcast — chances are we should look closely at how it plays on our fantasies. After all, what kid doesn’t dream of being, well, big?  From “Big” (1988) to “13 Going on 30” (2004) to the latest DC Comics adaptation “Shazam!,” movies in which children magically hit adulthood overnight are almost inherently aiming for mass appeal as they engage in two separate, sentimental dialogues: Kids, don’t go growing up too fast now; adults, give a little love to the child within. 

Continue reading I Wish I Was ‘Big’: ‘Shazam!’ Is The Latest Instant-Adulthood Comedy [Be Reel Podcast] at The Playlist.

This weekend’s box office got a bit more crowded by the addition of four major releases debuting, each representing a completely separate genre (horror/superhero, comedy, romance, and animation). However, none of the newcomers was able to topple “Shazam” and steal the crown as box office champion, especially the film that many thought would contend for the spot – “Hellboy.”

In its second weekend, Warner Bros.’ “Shazam” fell a respectable -53% in its second weekend and earned $25 million.

Continue reading Lightning Strikes Twice As ‘Shazam’ Repeats As #1 & ‘Hellboy’ Completely Fizzles Out [Box Office] at The Playlist.

**Spoilers ahead for the very last scene in “Shazam”**

If you remember all the drama from last year involving Superman actor Henry Cavill and Warner Bros., then you probably remember that the idea that the actor was done with the role and perhaps WB would have to recast the character stemmed from a potential appearance in “Shazam.” Well, now that the film is finally released and fans have seen it, we can talk about that situation in a bit more detail because it appears that a lot of those rumors turned out to be true.

Continue reading ‘Shazam’ Producer Explains Surprise Cameo & Says It “Turned Out To Be Better” Even With A Scheduling Conflict at The Playlist.

In the world of superhero filmmaking, the age-old saying of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” applies more than usual. It’s difficult enough to kick-start a new franchise in 2019, let alone a superhero franchise that doesn’t include Marvel Studios in its credits. However, Warner Bros. seems to have done just that with “Shazam” and the studio is ready to fast-track a sequel, with the original creative team intact.

Continue reading WB Hires ‘Shazam’ Writer To Come Back For Sequel As Director David F. Sandberg Also Expected To Return at The Playlist.

This weekend saw the successful release of Warner Bros./DC Films’ “Shazam.” After the success of last year’s “Aquaman,” many were wondering if WB could make it two quality films in a row (a feat that they haven’t been able to do previously) with “Shazam,” and judging by the box office and critical reception, it appears the studio has another hit on its hands. And while the top brass at WB is probably breathing a sigh of relief, the happiest person in the world right now is probably Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.

Continue reading Dwayne Johnson Teases ‘Shazam’ Spin-Off ‘Black Adam’ Yet Again & Says Filming Should Begin Next Year at The Playlist.

Made for a more modest $100 million, and more family-friendly than most (though still PG-13), Warner Bros.’ “Shazam!” singlehandedly won the box office this weekend. Striking lightning with $53.4 million domestically and $158 million total worldwide, “Shazam!” bested the competition internationally too, but the numbers certainly aren’t as high as recent box office superhero properties. “Shazam!” put up “Green Lantern”-like numbers and came in 55th on Box Office Mojo’s list of the highest opening superhero films of all time.

Continue reading ‘Shazam!’ Leads The Weekend, But It’s Not Quite As Super An Opening As Most [Box Office] at The Playlist.

As was the case with this month’s television, it’s still the final season of “Game of Thrones” that’s going to steal away much of the conversation in April. But on the film side of things, ‘Thrones’ has some serious competition thanks to a little indie called “Avengers: Endgame” at the end of the month. Marvel Studios dominates the box office on a yearly basis. But, in between the moments where people are waiting in queue online for their tickets and paying repeat visits to the theaters to see their favorite superheroes once again duke it out with Thanos, there are plenty of other features worth seeking out at your local theater.

Continue reading 9 Movies To See In April: ‘Avengers: Endgame,’ ‘Little Woods,’ ‘Teen Spirit,’ & More at The Playlist.