Having successfully turned his horror short into last year's success Lights Out, Swedish director David F. Sandberg is already at work on Annabelle 2. But if Warner Bros., New Line and DC have their way, he'll be the man calling the shots on Shazam.
It'll be a change of pace for the filmmaker, who likes to shoot as practically as possible and launched his career making short films with minimal budgets alongside his wife, Lotta Losten.
Shazam focuses on Billy Batson, who can become the hero known as Captain Marvel by saying the word, “Shazam!” which grants him the powers of six mythological gods. Dwayne Johnson has been attached for a long time to play the character's nemesis, Black Adam, though it sounds like the focus will be more on Adam as an anti-hero. Especially since he's already been handed his own spin-off film. Well, when you have Franchise Viagra on board...
The movie has been in development for ages, cycling through directors and script drafts. But if Sandberg does take the job, perhaps it'll finally move from cinematic limbo to actual reality. As for his next job, Annabelle 2, which looks further back into the Conjuring's demonic doll's history, that is out in the UK on 11 August.