Writer Says Shazam! Movie is Dead

Published by Jeff Leins on January 6, 2009

According to screenwriter John August, a possible Shazam! comic book adaptation is dead over at Warner Bros.  Already attached were director Peter Segal (Get Smart) and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson to play the villain, Black Adam.

August relays the chronology on his personal blog, where he laments the new direction Warner Bros wanted to take following the writers strike and two key summer movies for the studio.

What he describes as “Big, with superpowers,” August originally intended for the Captain Marvel movie to be a comedy with lots of action.  He turned in an origin story that everyone seemed to like about Billy Batson discovering his abilities before facing the evil Black Adam.  Until 100 days of work stoppage had everyone thinking a bit differently.

August also says the failure of family-friendly Speed Racer and the massive success of a darker, deeper Batman changed the way Warners was looking at comic book properties.  So they shelved the whole idea.  They no longer plan to make Shazam in its current form, but may revisit it later when they get the darker version they’re looking for.

It’s unfortunate because I’m a big fan of John August.  Not just because he wrote Go and Big Fish.  Certainly not because he wrote both the Charlie’s Angels movies.  It was his contributions to IMDB’s “Ask a Filmmaker” column up until May 2008.  The feature was discontinued on the site, but August provided a lot of helpful information to people passionate about screenwriting, including myself at one time.  (If you’re interested, you can still access the archives here)  So even if his next movie is as disappointing as The Nines was for me, I’ll still be pro-John August.