David F. Sandberg offers an update on the status of Shazam! sequel

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

Mere weeks after the release of SHAZAM!, word emerged that Warner Bros. was already in the midst of developing a sequel, and although director David F. Sandberg was initially hopeful that production on the SHAZAM! sequel would kick off this summer, the spread of COVID-19 put a fork in that idea.

Warner Bros. recently pushed back the release of the SHAZAM! sequel from April to November of 2022, and while speaking with Empire, David F. Sandberg offered an update on the status of the sequel. "The plan has always been to start shooting this year," Sandberg said. "I mean, we’ll see what happens with this Coronavirus thing, how long it will last and how it will affect everything. It’s all very uncertain at the moment." Even with that uncertainty in the air, development on the sequel was still only in the scripting phase. "It was already in quite early stages, because it doesn’t come out until 2022," Sandberg added. "It didn’t feel like we were up against a clock." Taking the helm of SHAZAM was something of a departure for Sandberg, who was known for helming horror movies such as LIGHTS OUT and ANNABELLE: CREATION, but he's excited to head back for another helping of Shazam!.

On Lights Out everything was new and scary, and then Annabelle: Creation was such a great experience where it felt like, 'OK, now I know how this works’. I'm hoping for the same thing on Shazam. The first one was like, 'Oh shit, how do you do all these things? I've never done a superhero movie before, with the visual effects and everything.' Now it feels like I know how this works, so for the sequel we can have more fun and really get into it, you know?

SHAZAM 2 is slated to hit theaters on November 4, 2022.