Shazam! A few punches and a few punch lines!
He’s been the underrated star of DC comics for a long time, and has a fan-base as loyal as any other hero of modern pop fandom. So the pressure on writer John August to produce a decent and true Shazam! movie is extreme.
Speaking to the MTV Movie Blog, August has apparently – by the time you read this – already turned in his script for the movie. Of the script that he has written though, he says that “…the people that are going to go see this movie opening weekend are going to be excited to see action and comedy together.”
The 13 year old boy that transforms in to an adult superhero at the mention of the word Shazam! is one of those storylines that is always going to appeal to people. The possibility of more in this life is something that always drives people forward. “If it hadn’t been around for 50 years and someone just wrote it as a spec script, that would sell cause it’s a really good idea,” said August.
“I knew what I was getting into,” August continued of the movie. “In a sense, even with a character that doesn’t have the giant spotlight on him like Superman or Batman, there’s a tremendously loyal fanbase who have very clear expectations about what they think a Captain Marvel movie should be. What people tend to really forget is that I’m just pushing words around on paper and doing the best job I can. But it’s weird that there’s such a spotlight on a movie that’s just now 119 pages of 12-point Courier.”
So from a comic series that never really inspired me, might arise a movie that could spark my interest finally.