“Shazam” Director Teases SDCC Appearance

David F. Sandberg, director of the upcoming DC Extended Universe film Shazam, has revealed that he will be at San Diego Comic Con and is apparently looking forward to it.

In a humorous sketch that he posted on his Twitter account, Sandberg drew himself yelling “Hurry up and get here!” at the SDCC logo. The logo has little arms and legs and seems to be slowly dragging itself across the picture to him.

Sandberg has shown himself to be quite the jokester with the fans, having shared fake concept art, a fake script and whatever the hell this is. This is probably a good thing, she he has described the movie as a situational comedy and says that it will be more lighthearted than previous DCEU entries.

Fans of the movie have particular reason to be excited for SDCC, because current rumor says that the first Shazam trailer will actually be shown, alongside the first trailer for Aquaman. Some sort of presentation for Wonder Woman 1984 is also expected, despite it having only recently started filming, with word that lead actress Gal Gadot herself may be in attendance.

This year, SDCC is held from Thursday, July 19 until Sunday, July 22. The DCEU’s main rival, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, will not be holding its own panel, and it seems that Warner Bros. wants to take advantage of this in order to really push their own upcoming films.

Shazam tells the story of Billy Batson, a teenage boy who is given the power to transform into an adult superhero whenever he says the magical word “Shazam!” As a kid, he will be played by Asher Angel (Jonah Beck from Andi Mack), while his superhero form will be played by Zachary Levi (Flynn Rider from Tangled, Fandral from the latter two Thor films). The villain, Doctor Sivana, will be played by Mark Strong.

The movie finished filming recently and is scheduled for release on April 5, 2019, putting it between Aquaman (December 21, 2018) and Wonder Woman 1984 (November 1, 2019). While the DCEU has been divisive so far, these three movies have all been generating good buzz, and Warner Bros. joins the fans in hoping that these will finally be the big successes that will put the franchise on the map.