shazam Tagged Articles at Cinematical

He may have lost the talents of John August, but Shazam! is still alive and well at Warner Bros, and here's the proof. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Peter Segal is still attached to direct, and the studio just hired actor-turned-writer Billy Birch to cowrite the script with Geoff Johns.

Captain Marvel is just one of many characters that Warner Bros and DC Comics is gearing up for a big-screen debut. Back in July, it was reported that the studio and comic company had reunited in a stronger, healthier relationship that both hoped would emulate the creative community at Marvel Studios. Johns, Grant Morrison and Marv Wolfman have been brought aboard to act as consultants, and Shazam! is just one of the properties benefiting from their influence.

The Shazam! movie has lacked the god driven powers of its hero, and has seen a lot of stops and starts in recent years, and finally seemed to be taking shape once August came on board as a writer, and Dwayne Johnson fueled fan buzz by having fans cast him in the film. (THR is mum as to whether he's still attached.) I really hope the sixth time(?) is the charm, and that Billy Batson finally gets his chance to transform. He's a character that has a lot of fans of all ages, and is poised to make a lot more in this superhero crazed era.

Remember earlier this year when I pondered just what the heck was taking so long when it came to DC's big screen adaptations? Well, all we had to do was give them a few months, and they started kicking ass and taking names. The Hollywood Reporter has a big piece all about how DC and Warner Bros have united in a creative partnership that rivals the continuity-happy gang at Marvel Entertainment, and it's a relationship that is hoping to yield some wonderful surprises.

In a show of just how serious they are, Warner Bros quietly brought on comic supermen Grant Morrison, Geoff Johns, and Marv Wolfman to act as creative consultants for their major properties such as The Flash, Teen Titans, and anything else the studio might throw at them. Even now, Wolfman and Morrison are working on super secret productions the likes of which fans can only dream about.

Wait, what was that -- The Flash? Yep, Johns is in the producer chair on the project, and worked up a new treatment for the character. Dan Mazeau is currently writing the script, and the hunt for a director is in the works. There's no Wonder Woman, Superman, or Justice League in the works, but you will be getting Bizarro Superman, which is being penned by David Howard and Robert Gordon. Also in the works is a sequel to Constantine, a solo Green Arrow movie, the Green Arrow prison lark, Supermax, and still-alive Shazam. Plus, if you've got pitches for Adam Strange or Aquaman, the studio would very much like to hear them!

When it comes to Preacher stories, you have to check your enthusiasm and optimism at the gate -- it seems like it's closer to the big screen this time around, but plenty of names have been attached before, so take this story as you will.

We know Sam Mendes will only direct if he likes the script, and according to The Hollywood Reporter, that script now has someone to write it, as Tim Burton-favorite John August landed the tricky job of adapting the Garth Ennis series. So while he lost Shazam!, he gained Reverend Jesse Custer ... and I might be biased towards rebellious preachers who are good in a fight, but I think that's a pretty respectable trade off, don't you?

It's pretty nice to be August now, actually -- in addition to trying to officially attach Mendes, he's also been confirmed to write Burton's stop-motion remake of Frankenweenie , and he's writing the Dark Shadows remake for Burton and Johnny Depp.

Assuming Preacher goes forward from this point ... are August and Mendes the right men for the story? While both do solid work, they also strike me as a bit safe. Neither have ever tackled material as dark and twisted as Preacher. But I might be underestimating their talent for depravity, and the fact that they are "unconventional" picks as opposed to someone like Kevin Smith means this could work out in one of those perfect, fateful ways.

So remember that whole Shazam! movie, with John August writing, Peter Segal (Get Smart) directing and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson starring as the villain, Black Adam? Last year we talked about this project a lot, wondering which actor would eventually play Captain Marvel, as well as teenager Billy Batson. In fact, as recently as November of 2008, Variety had reported that Shazam! was part of Segal's first-look deal with Warner Brothers. (The project was originally set up at New Line, but moved to Warners when they went under.)

However, over on his blog, August says the project is now dead in the water after several re-writes, most of which came about after the studio wanted him to take the film from a lighter action-comedy to something much darker (a la The Dark Knight). And regarding the recent news that Segal would be directing, August notes that "press releases often have little relationship to reality." He does admit, though, that the movie may still happen ... just not with him onboard and not anytime soon. Which is a shame, because this pitch -- "Like Big, but with superpowers ..." -- definitely had potential.

Were you looking forward to Shazam!?

The Captain Marvel film seems to finally be moving forward again, if this Variety item is anything to go by. Get Smart's Peter Segal has set a first-look deal at Warner Bros., and as part of the deal the studio acquired the John August-scripted Captain Marvel which Segel is still in line to direct.

The film was originally set up at New Line, but we all remember what happened there, so Marvel fans will be relieved to know he's got a new studio to call home -- and one that all his DC friends are at. I'm curious about the title switch ... are they going to retitle it Captain Marvel, and risk everyone being confused as to which comic brand he belongs to?

The last word we had on the project was precisely a year ago, when Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson signed on to play the villainous Black Adam. Variety makes no mention as to whether he's still attached. I hope he is, the fans chose him! You can't recast after a stunt like that.

Considering it has a script, a director, a villain, and a studio, all Shazam/Marvel needs is its hero, and it could be on the big screen before Warner Bros decides what to do with Superman. I'm not the biggest fan of the character, but he's a perfect one for the kids, especially in this era of dark and gritty superheroes.

For ages now, Jake Gyllenhaal has been the superhero understudy who never gets called to the stage. Actor, after actor, after actor gets picked for the tights and hero lifestyle while his interest in the theme goes nowhere. From Shazam to Spider-Man, he's always been a possibility, but never a real contender who gets to save the world -- which is funny since he's found so much success in civilian clothes. Now it looks like the closest thing to a superhero we'll get from the actor is his strange, yet undeniably endearing Bubble Boy.

Jake talked with MTV recently about the tights, the capes, and keeping the world safe from villains. He said: "I have definitely wanted to play superheroes in the past. I've definitely been into [playing a comic-book character] but, for one reason or another, it hasn't ever worked out." So far, so good. He's had interest, but it doesn't work out. How does he appease himself? "I think of how a character, in reality, is like a superhero -- rather than actually being a superhero." So now his sights are turned to heroes who don't wear tights, and who don't come from the colorful pages of comic books; he wants something a little more real: "I'd love to play a really cool character like Jason Bourne, not necessarily a superhero, but definitely a cool character that does great, fun [real-world] action."

He still doesn't sound against the idea, but Gyllenhaal has definitely moved on from the dream. Perhaps it's for the best. Superhero flicks can be tricky, and I'm sure the last thing he wants is to get stuck in a stinker. If, through all of this, you're still holding out hope for him to take Spider-Man, he says: "No, it's been well done already." Then again, Spidey was only supposed to hit the screen 3 times, so news can always change. What would you rather see him doing? Action flicks, or superheroes?

In covering the San Diego ComicCon, Geoff Boucher's Los Angeles Times blog notes that writer-director John August will not be in attendance, since he's toiling away on New Line's film adaptation of Shazam!, the Captain Marvel movie. As has been reported, Jake Gyllenhaal and The Rock are two possible candidates to play the superhero, possibly in the before and after transformation. The Captain is a crippled newsboy named Billy Batson who is endowed by a Dumbledorish wizard to transform himself into a mighty scarlet-clad superhero. Captain Marvel has been on screen since the Republic serial of 1941 when Tom Tyler played him, even though Captain Marvel looks awfully like Fred MacMurray in C. C. Beck's classic comic books. In August's own blog, the perennial collaborator with Tim Burton (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Big Fish, et al) tried to describe his own geek-free vision of what's going on. He includes a cheat sheet to describe some of the better moments in print with the Big Red Cheese...none of the comic book pics include Frank Miller's DK 2, where Miller proposed an interesting theory: That Captain Marvel's alter-ego Billy Batson could die of old age, leaving him trapped in that big torso and doorman's costume.

Boucher talks about August's provocative remarks, but here's the entire quote from August's blog (words that will really make the old-time fans of Captain Marvel wish they had a large Styrofoam boulder to throw at him): "Every time I read one of these [comic books]," says August, "I'm struck with the same realization I encounter trying to watch The Honeymooners or a black-and-white movie. Wow. Old thing suck." He goes on to add: "... Old-time comic books were awkwardly written, crudely drawn, and bewilderingly inconsistent with their rules. They were making up the art form as they went along, and today's comic books are better for the accumulated wisdom." The breezy inconsistency between an art form sucking and yet having accumulated wisdom bypasses August. One had to be grateful for the correspondent who wrote into August saying "Pretty harsh words from the guy who wrote the film version of Charlie's Angels" ... even if he did put a smiley emoticon next to it. Check out the LA Times story for more on the movie, including when it's set, what Captain Marvel will look like and who might play villain.

Edited to correct quote.

Though Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson has dabbled in video game adaptations (Doom) and big-budget fantasy flicks (The Scorpion King), surprisingly, he has yet to try on a superhero costume. But that might change, as the actor has expressed interest in playing Captain Marvel for the upcoming big-screen adaptation of Shazam! And while I'm certainly curious to see how they plan to take some scrawny 10 year-old kid and turn him into The Rock after muttering that oh-so magical word, I do think the dude is a much better choice than, say, Jake Gyllenhaal. (Of course, there are thousands of teenage girls who might think otherwise -- Jake, we love you!!)

In speaking with IGN, Rock admits that director Peter Segal has already lodged the Captain Marvel nugget in his head. He says, "Listen, John August is writing the script. He's a tremendous writer and [I'll] wait for the script to come in. But I would love to work with Pete [Segal] again, and certainly I've loved everything John August has written so it's a strong possibility." I love how he opens the sentence with "Listen ...," as if he's going to follow it up with "And if you have a problem with that then we can step outside." For those who aren't aware, The Rock is currently starring alongside Steve Carell and Anne Hathaway in Get Smart; a film that is also being helmed by Segal -- hence the reason why the question was asked.

When asked whether Captain Marvel would be a "man in tights" or if Segal was going to update the superhero's look, The Rock lifted one eyebrow (okay, I'm not sure that he did this, but it makes the story sound better) and replied: "Well, knowing Pete he would update [it]. [Segal]'s very excited about the project and understandably so, and he talks about it with passion. Pete also understands the importance of making sure to get that right. He's a big comic book fan. I don't know if you know that." Actually, I didn't know that; then again, there have been other directors who were so-called "big comic book fans," but their movies didn't exactly turn out so great. However, I have faith that John August will a) turn in a fine script and b) let us all know, through his blog, whether or not The Rock rumor is a valid one.

John August is a talented screenwriter who wrote both Charlie's Angels films (hey, somebody had to get each ass jiggle down on paper!) and is a favorite of Tim Burton, having worked on scripts for Big Fish, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and the massively disappointing Corpse Bride. In my opinion, August has never equaled his incredible script for 1999's Go, one of the most underappreciated films of the 90's, but the guy's got the goods. He also has an endlessly informative and always humorous screenwriting blog that should be required reading for any aspiring writer. On it, he debunks the rumor floating around the internet right now that Jake Gyllenhaal has been tapped to play Captain Marvel in Shazam! - the script August is currently working on. He does say in the entry that Gyllenhaal is likely to be one of the names mentioned for the role when the time comes, but that those discussions aren't even close to starting. We covered the Gyllenhaal rumor last week, but, it should be noted, we did not present it as fact. The direct link to August's response is here.

According to August, casting for Shazam! "has come up exactly zero times" and the project "currently has no start date, no release date, no movie whatsoever. There's just a script to be written. Which I should probably get back to." So there you have it. Don't rule Mr. Darko out, but he's nowhere near getting fitted for a codpiece just yet. Peter Segal is scheduled to direct Shazam!, which we'll more than likely see in 2008. Segal seems like an odd choice, as thus far he's only shot comedies, and mostly terrible ones (though to be fair, he does have one genuinely hilarious flick under his belt). August's directorial debut, The Nines, with Ryan Reynolds and Hope Davis, premiered to great notices at Sundance in January, and was recently picked up by GreeneStreet Films. Hopefully we can look forward to that this year.

[via IGN]

It appears there's a bit of a tug-of-war going on right now over the hunky Jake Gyllenhaal. However, instead of two females fighting for his love, a couple of Hollywood heavyweights are fighting to attach the star to one of two high profile projects. The New York Daily News gossip columnists Rush & Molloy (not exactly reliable sources, we know) tell us New Line is preparing to offer Gyllenhaal a massive payday to take on the role of Captain Marvel in Shazam!, yet another comic book-turned-feature film project to be directed by Peter Segal and written by John August. Studio views Shazam! as having the potential to be a huge franchise -- along the lines of both Batman and Spider-Man -- but only if they can sign up the right talent.

There's one small problem though: New Line is trying to act real fast so that Sam Raimi and the folks behind the Spider-Man franchise don't convince Gyllenhaal to replace Tobey Maguire instead. With his boyish good looks and ability to pack on some muscle and the charm, Gyllenhaal would be a perfect replacement for Maguire -- one that would definitely help the series continue and, perhaps, help attract an even larger fanbase. But would he make a good Captain Marvel? In Shazam!, a teenage boy named Billy Batson finds he has the ability to transform into an adult superhero when he utters the magic word, Shazam! So, if Gyllenhaal does land the role, would he play both the teenager and the adult superhero? Will New Line update the story so that Batson is a tad older, this way an actor can play both roles (like in Batman and Spider-Man)? What do you think -- would Gyllenhaal be better as Captain Marvel or as the new Spider-Man?

[via JoBlo]