Sometime after its release date delay, Shazam! Fury of the Gods director David F. Sandberg debunks rumors of the DC Extended Universe movie undergoing reshoots. After breaking out in the horror genre with the feature-length adaptation of his Lights Out short and helming Annabelle: Creation, Sandberg made his way to the mainstream directing the first Shazam!, which went on to receive the second-best reviews of the DCEU behind the first Wonder Woman and ahead of James Gunn's The Suicide Squad. Though one of the lower-grossing installments in the DCEU, only bringing in roughly $366 million against its $100 million budget, Warner Bros. swiftly moved forward with development on a Shazam sequel thanks to its successful opening weekend and positive reviews.
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Sandberg is back at the helm for said sequel, entitled Shazam! Fury of the Gods, which will see the titular hero going up against the daughters of Atlas, Helen Mirren's Hespera and Lucy Liu's Kalypso. Zachary Levi and Asher Angel's Shazam will fight the two with the help of his super-powered foster family, played once again by Jack Dylan Grazer, Adam Brody, Ross Butler, Ian Chen, Faithe Herman, Meagan Good, Grace Caroline Curry, Jovan Armand and D.J. Cotrona. Following a variety of COVID-related delays, production on Shazam! Fury of the Gods ran from May to August 2021 and as it continues to endure release date shuffles, the director is offering some soothing updates on the sequel.
In honor of Labor Day, Shazam! Fury of the Gods' David F. Sandberg took to Instagram to hold an impromptu Q&A on his story. When asked about reports of the DCEU movie undergoing reshoots, the director quickly debunked the rumors, confirming that the final cut of the film is locked, with only minor post-production still ongoing for the sequel. See Sandberg's response below:
Since David Zaslav took over as CEO with the Warner Bros. Discovery merger, the DCEU has found itself attempting to further repair its earlier missteps than it already was, with multiple movies finding themselves delayed while the studio maps out its 10-year plan to match Marvel Studios' ongoing Marvel Cinematic Universe. Given these new plans have included shelving the highly anticipated Batgirl movie and Ezra Miller's ongoing legal issues putting their solo Flash movie in danger of similar cancelation, some have speculated that the studio is going back on its original reported plans to use the latter project as a soft reboot for the DCEU, namely Michael Keaton returning to take over as Batman while Ben Affleck retired from the part. Many found themselves further confused on these future plans when Jason Momoa shared a photo with Affleck seemingly confirming his return for Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom.
While these other films find themselves shuffled around, Sandberg's debunking of Shazam! Fury of the Gods reshoots seems to point towards the film similarly keeping a standalone feel as its predecessor, rather than forcing any retroactive universe connections. Though Freddy Freeman's obsession with superheroes has left many hopeful for him to cross paths with either Henry Cavill's Superman or Momoa's Aquaman, many are still eagerly awaiting a proper fight between Shazam and Black Adam, namely as the latter is about to get his own movie with Dwayne Johnson starring. Only time will tell what the future may hold for the character when Shazam! Fury of the Gods hits theaters on March 17, 2023.