Shazam! production begins

Production has begun on New Line Cinema’s magical super hero action adventure “Shazam!”, Warner Bros. Pictures has announced.

David F. Sandberg helms the ensemble, with Zachary Levi in the title role and Asher Angel starring as his young counterpart, Billy Batson. Mark Strong stars as the super-villain Dr. Thaddeus Sivana, and Jack Dylan Grazer plays Billy’s best friend and ultimate superhero enthusiast, Freddy. Peter Safran is the film’s producer.

Whilst he won’t be starring in the film, Dwayne Johnson has been noted as an executive producer alongside Christopher Godsick, Jeffrey Chernov, Dany Garcia and Hiram Garcia. Set primarily in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, principal photography for the film is taking place in Toronto.

The official synopsis of the film has also been revealed:

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).

“Shazam!” is set for release on April 5, 2019.