Man, at this rate, DC should just Dwayne Johnson their official spokesperson. He’s basically your source for DC news, especially when it comes to Shazam!, a movie he’s now apparently confirming to anybody who will ask him about it.
Currently on a press tour to try and salvage his lackluster Hercules, Johnson basically confirmed that Shazam! was on the way. The only mystery is now what character he’s actually playing, according to Cinemablend:
Most recently he tweeted an image of Superman, Shazam and Black Adam, suggesting that he would be playing one of the parts, but he still wouldn’t specify exactly what was in the works. That pattern has continued today, as Johnson has confirmed that a Shazam! film is in the works. But what he’s not revealing just yet is if he’s playing the hero or the villain.
It’s interesting for a few reasons. First of all, DC, for some reason, didn’t announce Shazam! at Comic-Con, instead preferring to roll out a bunch of dates while not telling us what movies would actually be coming out. Yet Johnson must have clearance to talk about the movie, because studios tend to make actors sign NDAs about this stuff or fire them for blabbing.
Secondly, if Johnson’s talking about it, money must have changed hands and schedules must be set. And he’s actually a pretty busy guy; he’s got two movies coming in 2015 and there are two Journey to the Center of The Earth sequels in the works for reasons nobody’s quite clear on. But there’s no director, no other cast, and as far as anyone is aware, if there’s a script Warners has managed to keep it off the radar of every nerd on the West Coast. So it’s an open question as to whether Warners has anything together other than Johnson’s check.
Still, it’s certainly interesting. And it may lead to the Rock and Khal Drogo getting in a fight, provided someone working on those Aquaman scripts is doing their job properly.