‘Lights Out’ Director David F. Sandberg in Talks to Helm ‘Shazam!’
There are big plans afoot in the DC Cinematic Universe, not the least of which is the upcoming Shazam! movie (well — movies), which has a villain cast already (Dwayne Johnson, natch), but not the hero yet. It looks like DC is gearing up to move forward with it, because Warner Bros. is currently negotiating with David F. Sandberg, director of last year’s Lights Out, to helm the first film.
The Wrap reports that Sandberg, who made some waves in 2016 with Lights Out, based on a frankly terrifying short film of the same name, is in talks with the studio to direct Shazam!. The first movie will star Dwayne Johnson as Black Adam, who will then get his own solo run for the sequel. No doubt Warners is now casting around for Shazam himself. Sandberg’s Annabelle 2, the sequel to the 2014 Conjuring spinoff about that horrible looking doll, is slated to hit theaters this August.
Shazam, which originally was just supposed to be one movie, was recently split into two, after Dwayne Johnson met with the DC Comics CEO and literally ripped the concept of film itself in half. That’s how I like to imagine that meeting going down, at least. That second movie will be feature Johnson’s villain / antihero Black Adam as the main character, because let’s be real, you don’t cast Dwayne Johnson as a bit part villain for a few minutes of one movie.