Shazam Director Turned Down A Fan-Favorite Marvel Movie
The director behind Shazam! and the upcoming sequel recently revealed that he was asked to direct a fan-favorite Marvel feature, but turned it down for DC.
David F. Sandberg is in the director’s chair once again for Shazam! Fury of the Gods. He was also responsible for directing the first Shazam! film as well. However, the man recently revealed that he was being targeted to direct a fan-favorite Marvel feature before landing at the steps of DC. What film is that? None other than the high-grossing Sony/Marvel team-up, Venom. Interestingly, Sandberg was also responsible for directing horror hits: Annabelle: Creation and Lights Out. Being from a horror background, we might have seen a much different version of Venom.
David F. Sandberg went into detail about passing over Venom for Shazam! During a Q&A on his Instagram page, the director revealed that he read the script to Venom and had met with Sony about directing the feature, but he was also in the process of being selected to direct Shazam!, which he chose to pursue instead. We are not sure how much different the film would have been with Sandberg in the director’s chair, but Venom did make $856 million in worldwide box office numbers. Something that Sandberg echoed in his response. He stated, “I read the script and had a meeting about Venom, but I was already going down the path of Shazam!, and felt that I’d rather do that than pursue Venom. I thought Venom turned out quite good, though.” He is certainly right about that; Venom did turn out quite well for everyone involved.
Ruben Fleischer ended up taking the reins to Venom, and as previously mentioned, the film would go on to make nearly a billion dollars at the box office. Fleischer is certainly qualified as the man had previously directed Zombieland, Gangster Squad, and more recently the Uncharted adaptation. Still, it would have been great to see how Sandberg approached Venom, considering the film was meant to be a monster movie of sorts. It is a superhero film first, but Venom is also a symbiote creature that must feed. We could have seen a far different feature if Sandberg would have passed over Shazam! for Venom.
Things have clearly worked out for both gentlemen, and Sandberg is getting ready to showcase what he has done for Shazam! Fury of the Gods. With all the cancelations that have taken place at Warner Bros. Discovery, Shazam 2 is one of the films that is now going to be a cornerstone piece for this new 10-year DC plan that is being enacted at WBD. There are rumors that the sequel film will connect to Black Adam and possibly bring in Henry Cavill’s Superman. These are rumors at this point, but we hope they are true.
Shazam! Fury of the Gods will premiere on March 17, 2023. The film brings back Zachary Levi in the titular role along with Meagan Good, Lucy Liu, Grace Caroline Currey, Rachel Zegler, Djimon Hounsou, and many more. The sequel film has been delayed many times, but we are finally going to see it next spring. Although it would have been great to see what Sandberg would have done with Venom, he is enjoying some great success with the Shazam! franchise thus far. Through all the missteps DC has made recently, Shazam! has certainly not been one of them.
