With Wonder Woman 1984 pushed back by a whole seven months, it looks like 2019 will now be the year of Shazam!, at least as far as DCEU releases go. And from everything we’ve laid eyes on so far, it truly seems like the upcoming flick will be unlike any DC movie we’ve seen before.
For one, it’s headlined by Billy Batson, a young boy who finds himself as the unlikely successor to Shazam, an ancient wizard who’s harnessed the god-like abilities of Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles and Mercury. That brings a little levity and lightheartedness to David F. Sandberg’s superhero spinoff, which was sorely missing from Warner’s other comic book movies, like Justice League and Batman V Superman.
And in today’s new international trailer (seen up above), that levity is on full display, with the promo really playing up the laughs and general wackiness of Shazam! It may not be to everyone’s taste, but if nothing else, this drastic change in tone from past DCEU releases should mark the film out as something unique in the genre.
Furthermore, it’s also looking like Shazam! will be a standalone adventure first and foremost, with only a few small references to the wider cinematic universe in which it’s set. If true, that would certainly match up with Warner’s reconfiguration of its fledgling superhero franchise, which will supposedly be bringing us more character-driven films and fewer ensemble pieces in the vein of Justice League.
Said to have more heart and humor than every DCEU movie released thus far combined, Shazam! is all set to light up theaters on April 5th, 2019. And after the unexpected success of Aquaman, it’ll be fascinating to see how it performs at the box office.