'Shazam!' is Dead, Says Writer John August

It's amazing to me that studios just assume that they will cash in on a wave as vauge as "make it serious and dark".

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If DC/WB think all their characters need to be handled in the same way that Nolan is doing Batman....then they are just plain out of touch.

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I've got to agree with C.A. on this... It's boggles my mind that WB could seriously think that of all the things that came together to make Dark Knight such a magic experience, it was one little hot button word, in this case "Dark" that translates into the not-so-proverbial Big Bucks.

I'm starting to think this whole thing is being taken out of context. Like we are loosing something in the translation between that guy "sources inside the studio" and the studio itself. I mean, it can't really be that simple.... It just isn't that simple. Is it naive of me to think it's impossible for such a successful company to hinge billions of dollars worth of future films on one little word that honestly was not the major contributing factor in the film's success?

Where are the meetings saying "From here on out, we should work really hard on the script with brilliant authors, tap some of the most visionary and talented directors on the planet, back them with dedicated actors who understand their characters inside-out, give it the budget and room to grow and above all, make sure it fits the source material perfectly, no matter what that source material may be"?

Don't get me wrong... I loved the "Serious Darkness" in TDK and agree that many projects, both past and present, could be improved by little more then an injection of that but everything?? I just don't see SHAZAM! or Wonder Woman or Superman or any of a million other WB properties thriving in such a situation.

Oh well… Worse things have been done and trying to recapture lighting in a bottle is fairly common and to be expected, I suppose. It’s a shame that something that should have been bright and fun and funny is going to die just because TDK was awesome.

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I agree with everyone else here. Don't the movie studios remember what the previous blockbuster comic book movie was? I don't remember Spiderman being dark and disturbing, and it pulled in huge amounts of money. Hell, just this year Iron Man pulled in over 300 mill, and so did Indiana Jones, and neither of those movies were dark (although only one of them was good). Stay true to what the story would be, don't try and twist it into something its not. Shazaam should have been light hearted and entertaining. If it had been it could easily have made huge amounts of cash...not TDK amounts, but thats because the character isn't as popular or interesting, but not everything can be the 2nd highest grossing movie of all time folks.

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I've got to agree with everyone here. The batman movies only worked in the darker style because the character source itself is dark. I can't imagine putting a dark tone on every character, it kind of misses the point of all the various characters. I think that each character was of a different variety so that they could appeal to various readers.

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I was looking forward to that. Damn! You'd think the success of TDK would have helped such films get made. But it's poison to other DC films! POISON I TELL YOU!

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' The Dark Knight ' succeeded not because it was a BATMAN movie. Not just ' coz it was ' dark '. It realized the materia to the fullest extent it could possible, and trusted the audience enough to let them get in on that. Damn the consequences.

And people are generally known to not only watch one type of thing, anyways.

Stupid Warner Brothers.

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Did the ' Watchmen ' ruling made Tom Rothman chairman of Warner Brothers, too ? Wow.

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