Development and pre-production New Line Cinema began development of a
Shazam! live-action feature film in the early 2000s, with multiple screenplay drafts, by
William Goldman, the team of
Alec Sokolow and
Joel Cohen, Bryan Goluboff, and
John August. The version of the
Shazam! script written by August, which went into pre-production in 2008, was an action-comedy that focused on the origin story of the hero, then known by his original name of Captain Marvel. His young alter ego, Billy Batson. and
Dwayne Johnson was in talks to appear as the film's villain,
Black Adam. during the course of development. August departed from the project, citing pressure from the studio to make the screenplay darker and more serious. In August 2009, Bill Birch and Geoff Johns, a prominent DC writer, were assigned to write the screenplay, while Segal remained attached as director. In August 2010, the studio considered cancelling the theatrical film in favour of a live-action series for
prime time network television. In December 2013, Segal stated that the film would not be happening, as the similarities between Captain Marvel and
Superman had become an obstacle after the successful launch of
Man of Steel earlier that year. While the film was in
development limbo, DC rebooted the comic book franchise as part of their
New 52 relaunch in 2012. Due to the trademark conflicts with
Marvel Comics, who owned the trademark for "Captain Marvel" for use with
their own character of the same name, DC renamed their Captain Marvel superhero character "Shazam" at this time when the New 52 started. DC had been required to market and promote the character using the trademark
Shazam!, since acquiring the publishing rights from
Fawcett Comics in 1972. Captain Marvel had originated at Fawcett in 1939, but fell into limbo after 1953 following a long legal battle with DC over Captain Marvel's similarities to Superman. In April 2014, Warner Bros. revealed their upcoming slate of films based on DC properties:
Shazam!,
Metal Men,
Fables, and
100 Bullets. The
Shazam! film was tentatively set for release in July 2016.
Dwayne Johnson stated he would be starring in
Shazam! that August. In September, Johnson was cast as Black Adam, while
Darren Lemke was set to write the script. In January 2017,
Henry Gayden was hired to rewrite Lemke's script. In February 2017, David F. Sandberg was in talks with the studio to direct
Shazam!, while Dwayne Johnson was set to star in a
Black Adam solo film, as opposed to appearing as the villain in
Shazam!, while Doctor Sivana, another nemesis of Shazam, became the
Shazam! film's main villain. Sandberg was also approached to direct
Venom for
Sony Pictures, but Sandberg finally decided to direct
Shazam! rather than
Venom due to the former's crew consisting of several people Sandberg had worked with at
New Line Cinema. By July 2017, the studio had begun active development on
Shazam! and Sandberg was confirmed as director, with production to begin in early 2018. Dwayne Johnson relayed that a different creative team was now involved than when he first signed on to the film. After being cast as the lead, Zachary Levi stated in an interview, "the idea is that it's gonna feel like the movie
Big, but with
super powers," when was asked about the direction
DC Films and New Line Cinema are going for with
Shazam! Warner Bros. stated that the film would be based on the 2012–2013
Shazam! backup feature from the
Justice League comic book, by writer Geoff Johns and artist
Gary Frank, which told a modernized version of Shazam's origin. In August 2017, director David F. Sandberg stated that the film would be the next to shoot in the DC universe, and by the end of the month, it had begun
pre-production. By October 2017, cinematographer
Maxime Alexandre and production designer Jennifer Spence, who previously collaborated with Sandberg on
Annabelle: Creation, were added to the production. The next month,
Aquaman stunt coordinator Kyle Gardiner was hired to work on the film's action sequences. On January 12, 2018, the film's release date was announced as April 19, 2019, later moved to April 5.
Casting In August 2017, the casting process for Shazam and other characters had begun. Sandberg had stated in an interview that instead of de-aging an actor using special effects or
computer-generated imagery, he would cast both a child actor and an adult actor for the role of the main character.
John Cena,
Zane Holtz,
Jake McDorman,
Derek Theler and
Billy Magnussen all met with and/or auditioned for Sandberg for the adult version of
Billy Batson/Shazam.
Zachary Levi auditioned for the adult version of
Freddy Freeman, Billy Batson's brother. By October 2017, Levi was cast in the titular role. Sandberg chose Levi out of 100 actors after seeing his audition (which was taped on his
iPhone). In November,
Grace Fulton joined the cast as Mary Bromfield, one of Billy Batson's foster siblings. Fulton had previously worked with the same director on
Annabelle: Creation. Later that month,
Mark Strong was in final negotiations to play
Dr. Sivana. By November 2017, Asher Angel was cast as the titular hero's teenage originator
Billy Batson.
Finn Wolfhard also auditioned for the part. In December,
Jack Dylan Grazer was added as Freddy Freeman, Batson's best friend. Later that month, Jovan Armand,
Ian Chen,
Faithe Herman, and
Cooper Andrews were cast as
Pedro Peña,
Eugene Choi, and
Darla Dudley, respectively, with Andrews portraying Víctor Vásquez, one of Billy Batson's foster parents. By January 2018,
Ron Cephas Jones entered talks to play the role of the wizard Shazam, who granted Batson his powers. Later that month, Spanish actress Marta Milans joined the cast to play Rosa Vásquez, one of the foster parents at the home where Billy lives. By the end of January 2018, actress Lotta Losten, the wife of director David F. Sandberg, revealed that she had a role in the film. On April 23, 2018,
Ross Butler was announced to have joined the cast. By July,
Djimon Hounsou had replaced Jones as Shazam, due to Jones having scheduling conflicts. Henry Cavill was in talks to reprise his role as Superman from previous DCEU films for a cameo, but was unable to because of scheduling.
Filming Principal photography for
Shazam! began in
Toronto and
Hamilton, in
Ontario,
Canada on January 29, 2018, under the
working title Franklin, and wrapped by mid-May 2018. The film was set primarily in Philadelphia and is firmly established within the DCEU. and
Hearn Generating Station. In early March 2018, filming took place at
Fort York National Historic Site in downtown Toronto. By early May 2018, Asher Angel, among other young cast members, had finished filming his part, and principal photography wrapped on May 11, 2018. Reshoots and additional photography took place in Toronto between November and December 2018. Scenes set at the
Philadelphia Museum of Art, and well as other location work such as footage of the
skyline and
aerial shots, were filmed in the city of Philadelphia in December 2018.
Shazam! had a production budget of $90–100 million (and about $102 million once post-production was complete), making it the least expensive DCEU film to-date. == Music ==