During an interview with Newsweek, Shazam! executive producer Dany Garcia has provided an update on the status of the upcoming superhero movie, revealing that it will indeed be part of the shared DC Extended Universe, and that neither she nor star Dwayne Johnson (who is set to portray Black Adam, as well as co-producing) are concerned by the mixed reception to the previous DCEU films.
“Shazam! is to live in the same world [as the other films] but we have incredible autonomy over this brand and franchise,” states Garcia. “We are working with a different team, different producers, directors… it’s a different set-up. We don’t feel fettered by, or constrained by, the successes or failures and challenges of the other projects. That was a key component to our participation—that we be able to control the tone and the voice, and do it the way we want to.”
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“It needs to be of the world,” she continues. “You’ve got Justice League, Wonder Woman with a different director, so you’re going to see different points of view. I think by the time we land with [Shazam!] we’ll fit nicely within the world that’s been created, but not such a shorthand relationship. [It’ll be] enough that people say, ‘Oh, this is within the family,’ but the culture will be a little different.”
“We’re getting [script] drafts in… it’s important to make sure we get the tone right for Black Adam, which is Dwayne’s part,” she adds. “We don’t mind taking our time. We’re being very careful with each act and scene to go back and layer in as much as possible. We’ve got so many wonderful superhero franchises out there… we don’t need to run away from them and say ‘we can’t be that,’ but it’s important to understand what are the best aspects of a Batman [movie] versus Avengers versus Deadpool? What are the elements people are responding to? We want to move the needle.”
Shazam! is scheduled for release on April 5th, 2019.
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