Warner Bros. Pictures through New Line brought out the Shazam! film last year and on its roughly $100 million budget it did $366 million worldwide. While not the billion-buster of the much more established Marvel Cinematic Universe, the film did well and a sequel is afoot. Warner Bros. has put together a really fun piece with a history of Shazam as a property as a whole which was live-streamed last night and is now available for regular streaming. It clocks in at just under an hour and is a fantastic look at the origins of the character and the path it took over the decades.
Check out our review of the film.
The character of Billy Batson derives his powers by saying the phrase, “Shazam” which is an acronym of the ancient world gods and historical figures Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles and Mercury, which them transforms him into the adult form.
The first film is set in the DC universe but is avoiding the dark by going for a more fun, family-centric tone. Shazam was created by Bill Parker and C.C. Beck. Christopher Godsick, Jeffrey Chernov, Dwayne Johnson, Dany Garcia and Hiram Garcia serve as executive producers.
Film Plot Concept: We all have a superhero inside us, it just takes a bit of magic to bring it out. In Billy Batson’s (Angel) case, by shouting out one word—SHAZAM!—this streetwise 14-year-old foster kid can turn into the adult Super Hero Shazam (Levi), courtesy of an ancient wizard. Still a kid at heart—inside a ripped, godlike body—Shazam revels in this adult version of himself by doing what any teen would do with superpowers: have fun with them! Can he fly? Does he have X-ray vision? Can he shoot lightning out of his hands? Can he skip his social studies test? Shazam sets out to test the limits of his abilities with the joyful recklessness of a child. But he’ll need to master these powers quickly in order to fight the deadly forces of evil controlled by Dr. Thaddeus Sivana (Strong).
