Dwayne Johnson has the charm and body structure of a real-life superhero, and every year that goes by without him soaring through the air in a costume is a wasted period of time. That will change soon, though, as the actor is still set to play Black Adam in a solo movie for DC and Warner Bros., and though we haven’t heard much about the project of late, producer Hiram Garcia says the movie is “definitely happening.”
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The president of production for Seven Bucks Productions (with Johnson and Dany Garcia as co-CEOs and founders) spoke with Collider in an interview about the BLACK ADAM movie, and the producer updated them on the status of the long-gestating flick.
“Black Adam is definitely happening. We’re actually very deep into a script on it right now, which is coming along really well. I’m really excited with the story we’ve crafted. Look, I’ve always been a huge comic book fan. I’ve always had this dream, I’ve always wanted to—You know, you kind of have like these goals of like, ‘One day I’d love to be able to do this and this,’ and making a superhero movie was definitely always one of my dreams. For the longest time, you know you kind of have this living superhero in Dwayne Johnson, so I was always trying to figure out what’s the perfect character that will kind of fit him and his look and his build and his kind of edge and the attitude he’s got.”
Once upon a time, the character was meant to share the screen with the character Shazam, but then it was decided the two characters would be given their own solo movies, with SHAZAM! coming out in April with Zachary Levi in the suit. Garcia said this was done because they “didn’t want to compromise either of them by cramming them both into the same movie.”
There’s no current release date set for the movie, as Johnson still has a lot on his plate between Disney’s JUNGLE CRUISE and another JUMANJI movie, but Garcia says the latest draft of the script has been turned in and assures the movie will be the stuff of fans’ dreams.
So where we are now with Black Adam is we just got our latest script [from Adam Sztykiel]. We’re doing some revisions on it. We’re extremely excited about it, the studio’s very excited about it. And I’m telling you man, as a comic book fan, when this thing comes out, it is going to be amazing (laughs). This is the fanboy in me talking to you, it’s going to deliver on the goods of everything you’d want to see Black Adam do, he’s going to be doing in this film.”
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Warner Bros. is doing a bit of a shift with their DC movie slate, ditching the MCU-style shared universe model (for the most part) and focusing on individual movies, such as WONDER WOMAN 1984, AQUAMAN, SHAZAM! and a standalone Joker movie with Joaquin Phoenix that exists separate from their current run of movies. With that in mind, that could mean the studio will explore different avenues with new characters, which is perfect for a guy like Black Adam, who is a bit of an antihero compared to the likes of Superman. Maybe this means they'll get the movie rolling as soon as Johnson's schedule opens up (late next year, early 2020?). That would be a smart move because, like I said, every moment he's not in a super suit is a useless moment.
SHAZAM! hits theaters April 5, 2019.