Shazam David F. Sandberg IS the director

[Web-Head]

https://***********/ponysmasher/status/888074920655114240

 

[flash13]

I'm intrigued! I'll admit I haven't seen Lights Out, but I think he's a solid choice.

 

[Boom]

I enjoyed Lights Out quite a bit, so I'm on board. Plus he referenced Guardians of the Galaxy as his favorite Marvel film, which is good news. Hopefully they get cosmic and weird with this one.

 

[All-Father]

Talented guy! Great news to me.

 

[BH/HHH]

I actually didn't like Lights Out but I wanna see Annabelle Creation. I'm not sure of he's a good choice or not but there's a good precedent from Horror to Superheroes (Richard Donner )

 

[Web-Head]

I actually didn't like Lights Out but I wanna see Annabelle Creation. I'm not sure of he's a good choice or not but there's a good precedent from Horror to Superheroes (Richard Donner )

Quite a few of the Marvel directors have a bit of a horror background as well as James Wan

 

[Blitzkrieg]

Sandberg's latest movie, Anabelle Creation is at 100% on RT with an average rating of 8.2. Slash Film released their review today and here is an excerpt:

While sequels tend to have trouble measuring up to the originals, in the horror world, there are plenty of occasions in which a follow-up, no matter how deep into the franchise fans have gone, turns out to be a surprisingly satisfying entry into its canon. In the case of Annabelle: Creation, we’re handed a sequel that runs circles around the original, both as a quality film and as a gruesome, terrifying piece of horror storytelling.

 

[Black Narcissus]

David spoke to Geoff about getting the job.

https://***********/IMDb/status/888110555029950464

 

[Sawyer]

Gotta watch Lights Out at some point...

Personally, considering the Billy Batson of it all, I'm kind of hoping for an Amblin-esque approach.

 

[metaphysician]

Quite a few of the Marvel directors have a bit of a horror background as well as James Wan

Not to mention other genre-shifts, like the Russos going from comedies to Winter Soldier. Having a horror background certainly doesn't strike me as disqualifying. Its just a matter of, does he end up being a Jenkins or an Ayer.

 

[Willi Berg]

I watched "Lights Out" yesterday. It was cleverly directed, if not the most original horror movie. But it was well done.

Personally, considering the Billy Batson of it all, I'm kind of hoping for an Amblin-esque approach.

That could be a great way to go.

 

[Da-Scribe]

Really enjoyed Lights Out. Might go see Annabelle tonight. Gotta get up to speed on this gent.

 

[Mandon Knight]

Gotta watch Lights Out at some point...

Personally, considering the Billy Batson of it all, I'm kind of hoping for an Amblin-esque approach.

Agreed, totally get the tone and asthetic for Shazam has mystasicm at its core so that needs to be reflected but the Amblin/Speilberg touch also needs applying to capture the premise that at heart we are dealing with a child's world view of what it's like being a superhero god.

 

[Da-Scribe]

Agreed, totally get the tone and asthetic for Shazam has mystasicm at its core so that needs to be reflected but the Amblin/Speilberg touch also needs applying to capture the premise that at heart we are dealing with a child's world view of what it's like being a superhero god.

They will hopefully take some notes from the American classic Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance.

 

[Mandon Knight]

They will hopefully take some notes from the American classic Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance.

I think if there are chips to be p*ssed on, you can guarantee it.

 

[BH/HHH]

A ton of cool announcement came out of San Diego Comic-Con, but one of the more interesting ones was that Shazam will be helmed by David Sandberg. Sandberg has made his claim to fame in the horror genre with 2016's Lights Out and the new Conjuring spin-off, Annabelle: Creation, so Shazam will be a major departure.

While horror seems the be his bread and butter, Sandberg recently spoke to switching things up with Shazam. Speaking to MovieFone, the director revealed how Shazam will be different in terms of tone. "This will be very different than what I've done in the feature space, because it's not a horror movie and it's a much lighter tone," Sandberg explained. "But it's something that I look forward to trying out, even though I plan to return to horror in some fashion. My background, back in Sweden, before I started doing horror shorts, I was doing animated comedy shorts. It's not totally alien to me to have more of a comedy approach. I look forward to taking that on in a feature."

He then went on to talk about diving into the history of Billy Batson, A.K.A. Shazam, as well as just now getting to know the character. "It wasn't a character I grew up with. It was published in Sweden, where I'm from, in the '70s, so it's a little before my time. So I only knew him from the Justice League," he said. "It's not until now that I'm getting into the comics and reading a lot of the old ones, the Geoff Johns ones, 'The Power of Shazam,' and looking at a bunch of animation. So I'm really getting to know the character."

Another aspect that Sandberg spoke about was confirming that the Shazam film will be developed by New Line Cinema, a Warner Brothers' company, but not the parent company directly. Sandberg said of New Line, "They've been awesome. I will keep making movies with them as long as they want me."

As of right now, Shazam is looking to shoot in February of 2018, and eyeing a mid-2019 release date.

 

[DocHolliday]

I actually didn't like Lights Out but I wanna see Annabelle Creation. I'm not sure of he's a good choice or not but there's a good precedent from Horror to Superheroes (Richard Donner )

Annabelle Creation was a lot better than Lights Out imo. I was originally concerned with him being confirmed as another DCEU director...Lights Out didn't blow me away - merely an okay horror film. Also, it seemed to reek of company nepotism with New Line using one of their own guys. In the past, the studios would often try to attach their loyal company directors on their tentpole projects(how many times did we hear McG rumors on Superman or Guy Ritchie on Lobo?).

But the new Annabelle proved to be quite stylish and an overall entertaining movie. Anybody that likes Conjuring 1 or 2 owes it to themselves to check it out. Also reminded me of The Devil's Backbone in a few places. In any case, it's a significantly better film that than the first Annabelle - which was just bland on all levels(that's what happens when you hire the Mortal Kombat Annihilation director). There was the occasional cgi jump scare that annoyed me but that's more of a Conjuring trope that probably had to be in the film.

Much worse horror directors have proven to be successful with superhero flicks(Scott Derrickson and James Gunn) so I think Sandberg will be more than fine as Shazam's director.

 

[harlequinade]

The director is absolutely LOVELY. He spent so much time today on movies reddit answering questions about Annabelle Creation

 

[BH/HHH]

Annabelle Creation was a lot better than Lights Out imo. I was originally concerned with him being confirmed as another DCEU director...Lights Out didn't blow me away - merely an okay horror film. Also, it seemed to reek of company nepotism with New Line using one of their own guys. In the past, the studios would often try to attach their loyal company directors on their tentpole projects(how many times did we hear McG rumors on Superman or Guy Ritchie on Lobo?).

But the new Annabelle proved to be quite stylish and an overall entertaining movie. Anybody that likes Conjuring 1 or 2 owes it to themselves to check it out. Also reminded me of The Devil's Backbone in a few places. In any case, it's a significantly better film that than the first Annabelle - which was just bland on all levels(that's what happens when you hire the Mortal Kombat Annihilation director). There was the occasional cgi jump scare that annoyed me but that's more of a Conjuring trope that probably had to be in the film.

Much worse horror directors have proven to be successful with superhero flicks(Scott Derrickson and James Gunn) so I think Sandberg will be more than fine as Shazam's director.

That's good to hear, Lights Out was a great conceit but the way it was executed took away anything terrifying about it for me. Quite looking forward to Annabelle Creation. Hopefully I'll get a chance to see it at the cinema.

One thing I will say about the first Annabelle, while it was pretty generic and petered out towards the end, that opening with the Manson influenced killers in the house was one of the scariest things I've ever seen in a movie.

I think the common misconception about horror directors is they can only do horror.

 

[rogue trooper]

Very happy to hear him mention Geoff Johns and Jerry Ordway's take on the character.

 

[mclay18]

I've only seen Annabelle Creation but it was beautifully directed. Sandberg took cues from the first Conjuring and made some effective jump scares.

I look forward to seeing what he does with Shazam!, especially with Zachary Levi on board as the titular role.

 

[BH/HHH]

Sandberg has retweeted the Hollywood Reporter article.

 

[StarLord]

He also put these images on his Instagram.

 

[OnTheKingTide]

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

Hopefully we get some hints from David about the casting for Billy and the Wizard soon.

I just wonder what the choice for the bad guy is going to be if Black Adam is not in this?