Shazam! 2: Why The Filmmakers May 'Move Quickly' On A Sequel

Shazam! 2: Why The Filmmakers May 'Move Quickly' On A Sequel

DC’s latest superhero blockbuster is here and it looks to be another step in the right direction for the studio once playing catch-up in the shadows of the phenomenon that is the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Shazam! is a different kind of comic book adapted flick for the DCEU, as it centers on a 14-year-old kid's refreshing perspective when he has incredible powers bestowed upon him.

Having a story that features a primarily young cast comes with one concern: They’re constantly growing up. That's one reason why a sequel for Shazam! may need to come sooner rather than later. Collider asked the film’s producer Peter Safran if they'd want to jump right back in for a sequel, since the "kids" will probably look very different a year from now. Here's Safran's response:

They're going to look like Zach does today. So we've got to move quickly with the sequel, for sure.

Per his comments, you can’t exactly keep a story going about a kid who turns into the adult superhero played by Zachary Levi if his younger counterpart is already an adult himself. Asher Angel, who plays young teen Billy Batson in Shazam!, is already 16-years-old right now. So if the studio waits even two years to give the sequel a greenlight, he’ll already be inching on adulthood by the time filming gets underway.

Having a 20-year-old switch into Zachary Levi’s Shazam -- who will be in his 40s a couple years from now -- wouldn’t have quite the same effect on audiences as the age difference introduced to audiences this weekend. There is always room for creativity in superhero films, though, so the filmmakers might be able to find a way to work around this without seeing the franchise lose its charm.

The plus side of this logistical complication is that if Shazam! does well, the studio may feel more compelled to get going on a sequel from the lightning-powered hero before pursuing other pending projects. This would be great news for fans of the recent DC release -- and considering the producer himself recognizes this, it might just be in the works already.

During another recent interview, Peter Safran and director David F. Sandberg both showed their interest in returning for a sequel, so the stars just might align with more ease for Shazam! 2 than other DCEU projects being considered to move forward into production.

This is a problem that Tom Holland’s new Spider-Man franchise is also facing, as the actor plays a 15-year-old boy in Homecoming. As Far From Home nears release, Holland is now a 22-year-old stuck in a role of a high-school student. The second movie was fast-tracked behind the first for this very reason, and they will be release just two years apart.

Shazam! certainly looks to be a success thus far, as it exceeded expectations on opening night with a $6 million haul and has a certified fresh Rotten Tomatoes score of 93%.

Who’s already in for a Shazam! sequel? Stay tuned with us here at CinemaBlend!

Zachary Levi Explains Why Batman Is Cooler Than Superman

Zachary Levi Explains Why Batman Is Cooler Than Superman

In Shazam!, Billy Batson doesn’t know much about superheroes, but his new foster brother Freddy Freeman is an obsessive fan of the DCEU’s heroes like Superman and Batman, both of whom exist in the world of the film. Freddy, like so many kids, debates which superhero is the coolest and those debates don’t stop when you grow up. Shazam! director David F. Sandberg and star Zachary Levi both believe that Batman is cooler than Superman, with the latter explaining why, saying:

Yeah, like a playboy. The whole Bruce Wayne thing is really cool and he’s a billionaire. Yeah, he’s got issues. I mean, Superman’s got issues too but Superman is the ultimate boy scout.

Zachary Levi hits on one of the many points about Batman that makes him cooler to you as you get older, even surpassing Superman despite having none of Big Blue’s powers. Batman has that Tony Stark quality, he’s a billionaire and a playboy and although he doesn’t enjoy that lifestyle as much as Stark, he still has the means. Despite most of us not being billionaires, we can all say with 100% certainty that being one is definitely not not awesome.

Just consider the scene in Batman Begins where Bruce Wayne rolls up in a Lambo with a model on each arm and proceeds to buy a hotel. That playboy lifestyle tends to look more appealing than Clark Kent’s Smallville upbringing or journalist career. Of course, with his powers, Superman could be rich whenever he wanted if he were willing to bend on that boy scout morality. As Zachary Levi also mentions to Fandango, Batman has issues.

The Dark Knight is a notoriously brooding individual but that lends him a cool, dark, almost anti-hero vibe. The older you are the more you appreciate the flawed heroes and although Superman has issues too, he isn’t as broken as Batman and deals with them much better. That results in Supes looking like a bit of a boy scout though and that can seem lame at times. Zachary Levi further elaborated on The Man of Steel, saying:

He will always choose good and he also has that almost like Spock meets boy scout. Because he’s an alien so he sees things much more logically and less emotionally than humans do. But, that also kinda makes you a bit of a square, right?

Sadly, Superman does sometimes get branded as a bit of a square, a definition that he’s had a harder time shaking than Captain America. That definition may not always be fair, but he does seem more even-keeled as his humanity is nurture, not nature. He’s more likely to rescue a cat from a tree while Batman is busy using his fists to let out his no parents rage on some criminal’s face.

As cool as utility belts and Batmobiles are though, Superman still wins hands down when it comes to powers. Not only does he actually have some, but he has the best powers, including flight. In a new video from the film, Freddy Freeman tells Billy Batson that he’s “almost as cool as Superman” so clearly Superman is the be all end all superhero for the kids in Shazam!

Shazam! tries to show why he’s cooler than both The Dark Knight and The Man of Steel when David F. Sandberg’s film opens in theaters on April 5. Check out our 2019 Release Schedule to keep track of all the year’s biggest movies and let us know in the poll below who you think is cooler.

Could Little Beat Hellboy At The Box Office This Weekend?

Could Little Beat Hellboy At The Box Office This Weekend?

The movie season is starting to heat up and almost every week there's at least one major release heading to theaters. Last week, that movie was Shazam!, which went on to claim a nice $53.5 million at the box office. This weekend, Hellboy and Little are stepping up to the plate to get that No. 1 spot, but it looks like neither film will top Shazam!

Current box office tallies have Hellboy and Little battling for second place, with neither expected to top $15 million. (Pray for Missing Link, which isn't even expected to top $6 million.)

Based on late Friday estimates, per Deadline, Hellboy will gross around $12.3 million for the weekend. It's a disappointing number for the comic book movie, which was projected to open in the range of $16 million to $20 million. The film was made on a $50 million budget. Comparatively, the first Hellboy movie opened with $23 million in 2004.

Fans of Hellboy have long awaited the release of a third installment, but the new film is a reboot that ignores the continuity of the previous films. Guillermo del Toro was not involved with the reboot, which was directed by Game of Thrones alum Neil Marshall. Coming out of the gate, Hellboy received largely negative reviews, currently sitting at a 15% on Rotten Tomatoes. Additionally, the film reportedly wasn't widely available to the press prior to release, which is typically not a good sign. Hellboy also has a "C" CinemaScore from polled moviegoers.

Meanwhile, Little, the body-swap comedy that stars Regina Hall and Marsai Martin, is currently sitting at an estimated $14.9 million opening. That falls much more in line with initial opening projections of $14 million to $18 million for the film. Little has gotten mixed reviews, but not so drastically that it's affected audience turnout at the theater. The comedy sits at a solid CinemaScore of B+. The movie cost $20 million to make, so things are looking positive for the comedy.

On the other end of the box office spectrum, the stop-motion-animated Missing Link is almost completely missing in action. Box Office Mojo suggests its opening weekend is unlikely to top $6 million. What the heck happened there?

When the weekend box office reports come out tomorrow, Little may end up in second place while Hellboy opens in third place. However #2 and #3 turn out, Shazam! is expected to stay the No. 1 movie at the box office. The fun superhero movie, which scored positive reviews, is expected to make about $23.4 million this weekend, based on Friday projections. That would brings its total domestic box office run up to just over $93 million. The worldwide total is currently just over $200 million. With a sequel already in the works, this is another win for the DCEU, though perhaps not as extreme as Aquaman was.

We'll see if Shazam! can hold on to first place for three weeks in a row because, after that, Avengers: Endgame hits theaters. That would be the single greatest upset in cinema history if Shazam! beat that film.

You can check out all of these movies in theaters right now if you want to share a little support. For everything else arriving this year, check out our handy 2019 movie release guide.

Why The Wizarding World Of Harry Potter Is Getting Into The Dark Arts

Why The Wizarding World Of Harry Potter Is Getting Into The Dark Arts

While the Harry Potter franchise is still largely viewed as a series meant for the younger set, there's no denying that the latter stories, on the page and the screen, got pretty dark. When it comes to the extension of the Harry Potter universe in the real world, the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at various Universal theme parks around the world, they have focused mostly on the lighter side of the story, with places like Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade making up the locations fans can visit.

However, Universal's new nighttime show, Dark Arts at Hogwarts Castle, will mark the first time that the darker side of Harry Potter will be explored in the parks. The show recently debuted at Universal Studios Hollywood and Sr. Director of Entertainment Production Stephen Siercks says that the fact that the Wizarding World hadn't dealt with the dark arts before was the main reason he wanted to do so now. According to Siercks...

It’s an aspect of the story that we haven’t been able to embrace, in this way, yet. We’re really excited about bringing this to the guests to experience it, and finding ways to create new and unique storytelling devices and experiences for the guests here in the Wizarding World.

The Dark Arts at Hogwarts Castle is a new nighttime show which combines fireworks and lights with projections onto the sides of Hogwarts Castle. Previous shows have included The Nighttime Lights at Hogwarts Castle and The Magic of Christmas at Hogwarts Castle. Now, the new show focuses on the darker side of Harry Potter, as projections will include images of Death Eaters, Dementors, and Lord Voldemort.

Stephen Siercks tells Collider that Dark Arts at Hogwarts Castle uses everything that Universal learned in creating the first two shows, and enhances it, in order to create a show that brings the experience to the audience in even better ways.

While Harry Potter is something that is fun for the whole family, sometimes something a little scary can still be fun. I certainly have to wonder if Dark Arts at Hogwarts Castle is meant to be a precursor to some sort of major Halloween event at the park. Universal Studios Hollywood already does the Halloween Horror Nights haunted mazes, using properties light Stranger Things, and until they find a way to pull off a Triwizard Maze, a nightly light show that focuses on the monsters and other dark creatures of Harry Potter would be perfect for that section of the park.

Dark Arts at Hogwarts Castle Runs at Universal Studios Hollywood until April 28. It will return again briefly for the Memorial Day Weekend. The show is also slated to appear at the Universal Orlando Resort, though those dates have not yet been announced.

Miss Klaus? See The Originals' Joseph Morgan At His New Movie's Screening

Miss Klaus? See The Originals' Joseph Morgan At His New Movie's Screening

Klaus Mikaelson is gone but not forgotten to fans of The Originals and The Vampire Diaries. Klaus is regularly name-dropped on The CW's current spinoff series Legacies, keeping him fresh in fans' minds. It happened again this week in a big Klaroline way, leading many fans to wistfully wonder what actor Joseph Morgan is up to.

Well, if you'll be in the Southern California area in early April, you may be able to see for yourself. His short film Carousel is working the film festival circuit, and the actor himself teased the the next screening would be April 3 in Beverly Hills:

Joseph Morgan tweeted out a link to the Beverly Hills Film Festival, hoping to see fans there. Morgan directed Carousel, which he also co-wrote and co-starred in alongside Persia White. The two stars are also married, after meeting on the set of The Vampire Diaries, where she played the recurring role of Abby Bennett Wilson.

Here's the film description on the Night Owl Productions site:

Carousel is a story of love, loss and the hope for redemption when a criminal escapes death and gets a second chance at life in more than one way. As we delve into an emotional journey that beckons us to consider how the consequences of our past actions, like a carousel, keep returning to us again, and again, until time runs out.

Check out the trailer:

Carousel has traveled to many film festivals since October 2018, and you can check the site to see if it will be playing anywhere near you, or if it might become available to watch in other ways.

Persia White and Joseph Morgan also produced the comedy Juice Truck, which is listed as playing at the Los Angeles Women's International Film Festival in March 2019.

The Originals Season 5 finale, also the series finale, aired August 1, 2018. So it hasn't even been a full year since the first Vampire Diaries spinoff went off the air. Still, there had been hope that we'd see Joseph Morgan back on screen with the Gone Baby Gone series. He had the role of Patrick Kenzie, the same role Casey Affleck had in the 2007 movie. But in May 2018, Deadline revealed that Fox had passed on the Gone Baby Gone pilot.

If you're looking for other stars of The Originals, Riley Voelkel (Freya Mikaelson) joined The CW's Roswell, New Mexico, which also co-stars Vampire Diaries alum Michael Trevino. And Charles Michael Davis (Marcel Gerard) is a new addition to For the People Season 2 on ABC. Of course, Joseph Morgan's on-screen daughter Danielle Rose Russell (Hope Mikaelson) is now the star of the spinoff Legacies, which just saw the return of another supporting character from The Originals this past week.

Earlier in Legacies Season 1, we got an update on what happened to Klaus in the afterlife. Unfortunately, The Originals finale pretty much ruled out Joseph Morgan's return to the show, unless they want to do the vision/spirit thing.

The Vampire Diaries ended a full two years ago, as of this past March 10, and those stars have also been keeping busy on TV and in some films through 2019. Keep up with everything headed to the big screen this year with our 2019 movie release schedule.

Karen Gillan Says Moviegoers Will Be ‘Rooting For’ Nebula In Avengers: Endgame

Karen Gillan Says Moviegoers Will Be ‘Rooting For’ Nebula In Avengers: Endgame

While Thanos certainly pissed off just about the entire universe following the events of Infinity War, Nebula has some extra gripes to avenge. The villain has tortured the Marvel character played by Karen Gillan since she was a child and murdered her sister Gamora during his quest to obtain all six of the Infinity Stones. Will Avengers: Endgame be Karen Gillan’s last hurrah as Nebula? Here’s what the actress says:

I think I would be really sad to say goodbye. I've loved her from the moment I auditioned for her. She's evolved from a villain to someone we've developed empathy towards. I think she's going to be a character we're all rooting for.

While the actress couldn’t exactly answer the question, Karen Gillan’s recent comments to Empire Magazine (via ComicBook) makes it sound a bit like if Endgame is the end of her story, fans are going to be cheering for Nebula as we see the next Avengers flick unfold. Nebula could very well be the MVP of Endgame if she keeps her eyes on the prize and focuses on working with the other superheroes to defeat Thanos.

Nebula started off as a badass assassin not to be messed with in 2014’s Guardians of the Galaxy, but as her story has unfolded in the 2017 sequel and Infinity War, it’s clear the character could have a key role in what comes next. From the Endgame footage released thus far, Nebula and Tony Stark could be teaming up on a spaceship in order to join the remaining Avengers back on Earth, after they were the only two to be stranded on Titan at the end of the last movie. Just getting back to Earth could lead the audience to root for the former villain, not to mention if she comes anywhere near giving Thanos the thrashing he deserves.

When the first Endgame trailer came out and showed Tony sending out a message of distress to Pepper Potts as he starts to run out of oxygen, some theorized Nebula left him to fend for himself. A quick image of the unlikely pair on a spaceship in the final trailer, perhaps proves otherwise. Thanks to the recent trailer, we also know Nebula and Tony will find their way back to Cap, Black Widow and the rest of the gang and suit up with them in some swanky new suits.

There could also be good news for Nebula's future now that James Gunn is back on as writer and director of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 after his summer firing. But, because Gunn picked up The Suicide Squad reboot before Disney rehired him, we may not see another Guardians until 2023.

After Karen Gillan kicks ass in Avengers: Endgame, she will reprise another one of her action hero roles in the sequel to 2017 blockbuster Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, set to hit theaters this December.

Viral Avengers: Endgame Theory Involves Ant-Man And Thanos’ Purple Butt

Viral Avengers: Endgame Theory Involves Ant-Man And Thanos’ Purple Butt

Marvel fans, we’ve almost made it! Avengers: Endgame is officially under a month away from release.... and, real talk: I think the deliriousness has finally started to set in regarding the upcoming culmination of the MCU thus far, as we are now about to discuss a totally hysterical theory that brings new meaning to the latest trailer’s iconic line, “Whatever it takes.”

Let me set the scene for this one. Imagine you’re in the theater on opening day, and you’re watching Endgame when this becomes the plan the remainder of the Avengers decide on: Ant-Man shrinking to a teenie-tiny size (as he does) and crawling up Thanos’ purple ass just before switching into his giant size inside of the villian, thus exploding him out of existence. Just...imagine.

According to a Vox explainer on “Thanus Theory,” the idea was born on a Reddit thread titled “Worst ways to stop Thanos” where one user suggested that Hulk borrow the Ant-Man suit and go from zero to hero by passing through Thanos’ mouth and straight down to his manhood before Hulking out and saving the world! One commenter replied with “holy shit you’re a genius,” and I would be lying if I said I didn’t agree. The theory has, of course, gone absolutely viral and inspired a ton of memes. Take a look:

Don’t wipe away those cry-laughing tears just yet. There’s a lot more where that came from. The meme theory was applied to the recent Avengers: Endgame character posters with an edit on Twitter as well. Check it out:

There are honestly so many hilarious memes regarding this theory. This writer is even a bit overwhelmed with it all. Of course, the question is… could it happen? Twitter user @sapphic_tracer considered the possibility with this point:

This is a valid note! I never would have guessed that the reason for Nick Fury’s eye-patch look was due to an adorable feline flerken named Goose, but here we are. Marvel isn’t a stranger to loosening up some of their plotlines in service of a good joke. However, if Deadpool was part of the Avengers, I would certainly be more convinced that the theory is possible, since something like this would absolutely be more on-brand for Wade Wilson.

The theory is over a year old, which means Paul Rudd was actually confronted by the theory back when he was doing press for Ant-Man and the Wasp. Take a look:

The Ant-Man actor actually looks rather uncomfortable and a bit thrown off addressing this theory, which could be a sign that the internet is on to something, or (much more likely) way, way off. I guess we’ll find out on April 26!! Start placing your bets now. Is “Thanus Theory” actually fact?