David F. Sandberg to direct demonic horror film The Culling for Lionsgate

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

While SHAZAM! was a bit of a change of pace for David F. Sandberg, the director is aiming to return to his horror roots as Deadline has reported that he's set to direct THE CULLING for Lionsgate from a spec-script by Stephen Herman.

THE CULLING follows a troubled priest who "confines himself to a remote cabin in the middle of the woods where he attempts to make a last stand against the demon that terrorized his family when he was a child." Sounds suitably spooky to me. In addition to directing THE CULLING, David F. Sandberg will also produce the film alongside Lotta Losten via their newly formed Mångata production banner. On Twitter, Sandberg said, "Love this script by Stephen Herman and its take on how demons work." The director also added that he still plans on tackling the SHAZAM! sequel as his next project, but that's "pending the continued existence of the world."

Speaking of the SHAZAM! sequel, the COVID-19 shut-down has obviously delayed the film, but David F. Sandberg offered an update on the sequel earlier this year, saying, "The plan has always been to start shooting this year. 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." The director added that 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.