Shazam 2 is scheduled for release in 2022, which presents an issue with the quickly aging cast, but director David F. Sandberg reacts with humor.
Shazam 2 director David F. Sandberg acknowledged the film's long delays with a hilarious fake poster on Twitter. The movie isn't slated for release until November 4, 2022. The first Shazam!, which was released in 2019, starred Zachary Levi as Shazam and Asher Angel as 14-year-old Billy Batson. Batson grows up in a foster home with several other children, including his best friend Freddy Freeman (Jack Dylan Grazer), who also eventually gain superpowers. All the kids in the main cast are expected to return for Shazam 2.
This will be Sandberg's second outing in the DC Extended Universe. He first gained attention in the film world for his no-budget horror shorts, then directed two horror features before landing the directing gig for Shazam!. Given his background, Sandberg certainly wasn't an obvious choice for a lighthearted superhero film, but he pulled it off. Shazam! was well-received by critics and fans, so it was an obvious decision for him to come back for the sequel. However, at this point, much of the upcoming film remains a mystery.
This didn't stop one Twitter user from prompting Sandberg to show off a poster for Shazam 2 after director Matt Reeves unveiled one for The Batman. Sandberg replied with a tongue in cheek image that acknowledged one of the biggest difficulties for the film. The fake poster reads, "Shazam! Now the kids have facial hair."
The cast of Shazam! – and, by extension, Shazam 2 – contains a multitude of child actors, and one of the difficulties of working with kids is how quickly they grow up. For films that rely on a young cast, it can present challenges when filming runs long or there are large gaps between sequels. There was only a two-year gap between the filming of IT and IT Chapter Two, and the young stars still needed to be digitally de-aged. Shazam! filmed in early 2018, so it's already been two and a half years. Shazam 2 was supposed to film this year, but the coronavirus pandemic threw a wrench into that plan. Currently, there's no word on when filming will begin.
It's good to see Sandberg is approaching what could be a major problem for Shazam 2 with good humor. Figuring out how to work around the actors growing up will be difficult, but as IT Chapter Two showed, it is possible to make it work. Sandberg definitely has his work cut out for him but, hopefully, Shazam 2 will be able to begin filming sometime this year and mitigate the extent of the issue.