Archive for the ‘Shazam’ Category
The Billy Batson and the Power of Shazam! series from Johnny DC continues to offer up kid friendly superhero action. Derek Fridolfs, whipped this piece up, and it really captures the excitement one would expect from the property.
DC’s Captain Marvel has been turned over to Bill Birch and Geoff Johns to get the screenplay treatment for a future film. This is a movie that has been passed around from writer to writer for seven years before Johns and Birch were tapped to co-write their take on the kid-turned-hero-when-magic-phrase-is-uttered story. No planned release date of actors have been named for this attempt at the film.
Mattel continues the Justice League Unlimited line with the latest addition to the growing figure collection with the Shazam Family 4-pack.
In stores today is the fourth issue of DC’s Billy Batson and Magic of Shazam! #4. For kids, this is an excellent series, and if you haven’t already made your weekly trip to the bookstore, here’s a preview of what you can expect to find.
Over at his blog, screenwriter John August gives a breakdown as to what happened to his Shazam! movie and how the execs at Warner Bros. cancelled the movie.
When we turned the new draft in to the studio, we got a reaction that made me wonder if anyone at Warners had actually read previous drafts or the associated notes. The studio felt the movie played too young. They wanted edgier. They wanted Billy to be older. They wanted Black Adam to appear much earlier.
His first draft, turned in before the writer’s strike, was more of a comedy than the darker, edgier feel Warner Bros. is now targeting for its superhero movies.
Get Smart director Peter Segal has signed a three-year first-look deal with Warner Bros. and the first order of business in the new deal is Captain Marvel. The WB has picked up the John August script, with Segal set to direct the adaptation.
He and [Michael] Ewing began working on the film two years ago at New Line, but the property has moved over to WB. Pic tells the story of teenaged Billy Batson, who transforms into the superhero when he says the word “Shazam!”
Why was this film even at New Line to begin with? DC and Warner Bros. are going to suffer the same growing pains Marvel did when it was signing over its top properties to 20th Century Fox and Sony. Keep it in house guys and you’ll always have something to fall back on.
There’s no start date for shooting set yet, nor has a lead been found.
According to director Peter Segal, the production is still feeling the aftershocks of the writer’s strike.
We’re still working on the script. An interesting little development, but it’s an annoying one, is that after a strike there are residual effects and one was that everyone who was a writer suddenly had a back log of assignments as did John August, so we started to do our re-write process but he had to service some of these other prior commitments. So now we’re kind of waiting in line to get him back but it’s worked out okay because we’ve been working on the marketing of this and getting this going, so we’ve been doing enough to keep ourselves busy and as soon as this movie gets released then we’re going to focus again on ‘Billy Batson and the Legend of Shazam‘.
Well gosh darn that! Of all the superheroes to get a movie make over, this is one that could be really good, especially if they make it a true adventure ala the old seriels. If Segal plays his cards right, and there is a really good script, Shazam could finally get the last laugh by out performing Superman Returns.
Or – “Major Spoilers, Major Time Crunch! I Blame Stephen!”
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There’s a couple of reasons why I do what I do here at Major Spoilers… The first is, I love comics, and I know you do, too. (See what I did there?) I want you to look at Wednesdays the same way I do, with a combination of joy, expectation, and “What in the world will they do next?” Basically, I want to share the love.
Also, and possibly more importantly, I’m an attention whore. Problem is, I actually have two jobs other than this one, both of which tend to suck a lot of time out of my day. I’ve fallen waaaaaay behind in my daily reviews (or, honestly, my thrice-a-week reviews, lately) and in order to keep from reviewing things that came out three or four weeks ago, I’ve decided to give you some extra bang for your buck, with a smorgasbord of reviews that I’ve fallen behind on. It’s something like Friday nights when I was a kid, where you’d have whatever was in the fridge for supper, because nobody’s going to waste their time cooking for ya. Heck, if it works out, we may do this on a semi-regular basis to remind you of the comics that I probably couldn’t honestly see devoting a whole review to. And now, ON WE GO!
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Rumor floating around the Interwebs is that may be the title of the upcoming Shazam movie, which may or may not feature The Rock as Black Adam.
I really don’t hate that title, in fact I liken it to such great movie titles like Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade, and Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark. On second thought, I hate the retcon retitle of Raiders – but then again I’m not rich like Lucas and Spielberg, so I’m stuck with it.
Still, Billy Batson and the Legend of Shazam! makes me think of the serial features from the 30s and 40s. I just hope they don’t try to retell the original Shazam! Captain Marvel serial.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xCcWM9H8A4[/youtube]
Or – “I’m Still At A Loss As To How This Is Any Sort Of Competition…”
I mean, honestly, Katana is a former Outsider, she’s worked with Batman before, she’s got the smarts and battle skills, and, oh yeah… SHAZAM CAN’T LEAVE THE ROCK OF ETERNITY! After the first head-to-head came out with no winner at all, I’m sort of wondering if I’ve misunderstood the concept of this miniseries within a series. The way I read the Previews, it seemed like each issue was going to be a competition to see who works better within Batman’s proposed team structure, but two issues in, it comes across as more complicated than that. After all, the worlds of magic are in disarray, and even Batman needs a mystical resource now and again.
Quint over at Ain’t It Cool News interviewed Peter Segal on the Get Smart movie, but was smart enough to ask if he was still working on Shazam.
Absolutely. We’re working on the script right now and John August is working on it and I have to say I’m really excited about this. This is one of my favorite comic books and I had to remind myself when I researched again, once I signed on, that it was the most popular comic in the world in 1939 and because of a lot of legal problems it was shelved away and enjoined and when it came back again and during that time Superman thrived, but what I think is relevant about this comic is that element of BIG. BIG meets Superman.
There’s no comic out there… I mean, Iron Man has that flawed character and that’s what makes that unique, but this kid is a prepubescent boy that gets to morph and become a superhero and I think you’ve got to… that’s so rich… you know, to find two actors, because I don’t think one actor can play 14 and 28… that’d be a little creepy like CLIFFORD or something, I don’t know, but that’s why I think they came after a guy like me.
I think the thing that is going to sell this flick for me isn’t the director, producer, or who is writing the script, but rather who is going to play the parts of Billy and Shazam.
It’s a once in a lifetime chance to get your hands on an original page from Jeff Smith. Smith and others are donating art to the Comic Book Legal Defense fund to help pay for the growing court costs in the Gordon Lee Case.
In case you aren’t familiar with the case, Lee is a comic shop owner in Georgia who could go to jail for selling a comic that has a scene of Picasso walking around in the nude to a minor. Gordon claims he didn’t know the scene was in the book and has appologized, but that hasn’t stopped the sue happy family and the crazy state of Georgia from taking him to court.
The CBLDF has already spent $80,000 defending Gordon and expect to need another $20,000.
I don’t sell my original art, and I’ve never donated an interior story page to anything before, but this case against comics must not succeed. No one should go to jail for selling art.
Take the jump for the black and white image up for sale from Smith, as well as the open letter from Jim Lee who is calling for your help.
Every time I read one of these, I’m struck with the same realization I encounter trying to watch The Honeymooners or a black-and-white movie: Wow. Old things suck.
So says John August, the writer of the upcoming Shazam! movie on recommending older Captain Marvel titles for people to read. Instead August recommends reading many of the newer appearances of the Big Red Cheese over at his blogsite. Before everyone gets all up in arms over August’s comments, remember even recent retellings of Captain Marvel’s adventures (Monster Society of Evil by Jeff Smith for example), re-tell the origins of how Captain Marvel obtained his powers. I have a feeling any movie is going to be able to convey the power and myth of the title character without glossing over any key historical moments.
Looks like the Jake Gyllenhaal playing Captain Marvel rumor, was just that – a rumor. At least according to John August, screen writer for the flick.
But the thing is, he’s not considering. I can pretty much assure you he’s never heard of the project. And we’ve never discussed him. We’ve never seriously discussed anyone.
After several months of meetings, casting has come up exactly zero times. There’s no casting list. If there were a list, Gyllenhaal’s name would probably be on it, but trust me: there is no list. There’s no start date, no release date, no movie whatsoever. There’s just a script to be written. Which I should probably get back to.
But there is an out in Augusts comments, IF there were a list, his name would probably be on it. For now we’re going to call this rumor debunked, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it resurfaces again in the future.
via John August (link)
There’s an interesting little bit in the New York Daily News gossip section that claims Jake Gyllenhaal is in talk to play Captain Marvel in the Shazam! movie. Personally, I don’t see it, but then again, I never thought Tobey Maguire was the best person to play Spider-Man before I saw it for myself.
Another tid-bit says New Line is trying to make this movie as big or bigger than the DC Batman and Superman films with a rumored budget of $200 million.
Remember, for now this is all rumor until contracts are signed.
via NY Daily News (link)
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