Nearly 80 years after he made his first comic book appearance, the superhero formerly known as Captain Marvel finally made his theatrical debut with last year’s Shazam!, where he was played by Chuck star Zachary Levin. The movie was a critical hit and performed well enough that just days after it premiered to the public, Warner Bros announced that Shazam! 2, now officially known as Shazam! Fury of the Gods, was in the works.
It’s now been almost a year and a half since the Shazam! sequel got the green light, so when will it finally start filming? According to Zachary Levin, the goal is to start rolling cameras early next year. In his words:
They announced that we were gonna do a sequel pretty much right after we premiered. They knew we were tracking well enough, they were happy enough with the numbers and whatnot. So they have been steadily and earnestly working on the script for the sequel. Q1 of next year I think is the idea. COVID has kind of made everything a little bit up in the air, but very much the intent is to make another one. We gotta get to it fast, the kids are growing like weeds.
Zachary Levi dropped this Shazam! Fury of the Gods update while he appeared on Dan Fogler’s 4D Xperience alongside Shazam! costar Cooper Andrews, who played Victor Vasquez, the foster father of Billy Batson and his siblings. Had things gone according to the original plan, per what Levi said in summer 2019, Shazam! 2 would have begun filming either this past spring or summer.
However, the current health crisis has complicated numerous productions that were already in the swing of things, so needless to say that movies that hadn’t begun filming yet were pushed back as part of the domino effect. So now Zachary Levi expects Shazam! Fury of the Gods to start principal photography within the first months of 2021, but again, with how unpredictable the world is, who knows if that target time period will be met.
After all, no one expected The Batman having to halt filming just several days after resuming due to Robert Pattinson testing positive for COVID-19. But for Shazam! Fury of the Gods, it’s a little bit more urgent to start shooting sooner rather than later considering how fast the kids who make up the central foster family are growing. Wait too long, and you’ll have to contend with facial hair.
In any case, it sounds like it’ll be a while until we learn what’s in store for Shazam! Fury of the Gods, a title we only just learned about a few weeks ago thanks to the Shazam! panel at DC FanDome. That said, the Shazam! mid-credits scene teased an alliance between Doctor Sivana and the super intelligent caterpillar known as Mister Mind, so presumably Billy Batson and the rest of the Shazam Family will have to tangle with this nefarious duo for their next adventure.
Along with Shazam! Fury of the Gods, the Shazam corner of the DC Extended Universe is expanding soon with Black Adam, which will see Dwayne Johnson’s eponymous character battling the Justice Society of America. Black Adam was teased during Shazam!, but it remains to be seen when he and the World’s Mightiest Mortal will fight each other; Zachary Levi speculated it could happen in Shazam! 3.
Stay tuned to CinemaBlend for more updates concerning Shazam! Fury of the Gods, and be sure to scan through our comprehensive guide about what other DC movies are on the way.
