Shazam!

Produced by New Line Cinema, DC Films, the Safran Company, and Seven Bucks Productions, and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, it is the seventh installment in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU). It was directed by David F. Sandberg from a screenplay by Henry Gayden who co-wrote the story with Darren Lemke, and stars Zachary Levi, Mark Strong, Asher Angel, Jack Dylan Grazer, and Djimon Hounsou.

The film follows teenager Billy Batson (Angel) as he is chosen by the ancient wizard Shazam (Hounsou) to be his new champion by saying the name “Shazam”, allowing him to transform into an adult superhero (Levi) with various superpowers.

Billy and his foster brother Freddy Freeman (Grazer) must discover Billy’s new powers in order to stop the evil Dr. Thaddeus Sivana (Strong) and the Seven Deadly Sins. Development of a live-action Shazam!

film began at New Line in the early 2000s, but was delayed for several years.

The film went into pre-production in 2009, with Peter Segal as director, John August as writer and Dwayne Johnson being considered to star as the villain Black Adam, but the project fell through; Johnson acts as an executive producer on Shazam!

William Goldman, Alec Sokolow, Joel Cohen, Bill Birch, and Geoff Johns, among others, were all attached to the project as writers at various points.

The film was officially announced in 2014, with Johnson attached to star as either Shazam or Black Adam. In January 2017, he was cast to lead a solo Black Adam development project. Sandberg signed on to direct Shazam!

in February 2017, and Levi was cast that October, with Angel joining the following month. Principal photography began in Toronto on January 29, 2018, with most of the film shot at Pinewood Toronto Studios, and wrapped on May 11. Shazam!

was released in the United States on April 5, 2019.

The film was a box office success, grossing over $367 million worldwide, and received positive reviews from critics, who praised Sandberg’s direction and the performances of Levi, Angel and Grazer, as well as its generally light tone and sense of fun.

It was followed by the spin-off film Black Adam (2022) and a sequel titled Shazam! Fury of the Gods (2023), both of which failed to meet the critical and financial success of the first film.

He is suddenly transported to the Rock of Eternity, a mystic temple located in another dimension.

There, he meets an ancient wizard named Shazam, who has spent centuries searching for someone pure of heart upon whom to bestow his power and name as champion after his previous champion released the Seven Deadly Sins.

Thaddeus is tempted by the Sins, who promise him power if he frees them. The wizard deems Thaddeus unworthy and magically returns him to the car.

Thaddeus’s frustration and confusion leads to a vehicular accident, resulting in his father becoming paralyzed from the waist down and even more resentful towards him. The Sins send Thaddeus a message via his 8-Ball toy, telling him to find them.

In present-day Fawcett City, Philadelphia, 14-year-old foster child Billy Batson continually runs away from foster homes to search for his birth mother, whom he’s been searching for prior to being separated from her at a carnival ten years ago.

He locks some police officers in a store and uses their computer to try to locate his mother, but is unsuccessful.

He is placed in a group home run by Víctor and Rosa Vásquez with five other foster children: Mary Bromfield, Pedro Peña, Eugene Choi, Darla Dudley, and superhero enthusiast Freddy Freeman.

Elsewhere, an embittered Sivana succeeds in his lifelong quest to return to the Rock of Eternity. He becomes the Sins’ vessel when the Eye fuses itself with his body and overpowers the wizard.

He promptly uses his newfound powers to kill his father, his brother, and the members of Sivana Industries’ board of directors.

Billy defends Freddy from bullies at school and is chased into a subway car, where he is transported to the Rock of Eternity. The wizard chooses Billy to be his new champion; by saying the name “Shazam,” Billy transforms into an adult superhero.

The wizard seemingly dies and leaves his magical staff behind. Freddy is taken into Billy’s confidence and helps him explore his newfound powers, which include superhuman strength, near-invulnerability, and electrokinesis.

By saying “Shazam” again, he can transform back into his normal body. Freddy posts viral videos of the new superhero, and Billy starts skipping school to use his powers to busk for money and fame.

He gets into an argument with Freddy after accidentally endangering and saving a bus full of people. Sivana arrives and demands that Billy surrender his powers. Billy discovers he can fly and escapes.

He learns his biological mother’s location and visits her, only to be heartbroken upon learning she abandoned him at the carnival on purpose after feeling inadequate as a young mother and no longer wanting him in her life.

Sivana deduces Billy’s identity and takes his foster siblings hostage. Billy agrees to transfer his powers to Sivana in exchange for their safety.

They go to the Rock of Eternity to use the wizard’s staff to effect the transfer, but the children attack Sivana. Billy observes that Sivana becomes vulnerable when all seven Sins leave his body.

Sivana pursues them to a winter carnival and unleashes the Sins upon the crowd.

Remembering the wizard’s words, Billy uses the staff to share his powers with his foster siblings, transforming them into adult superheroes like him before he breaks the staff.

The Shazam Family battles against the Sins while Billy faces down Sivana. Billy goads Envy into leaving Sivana vulnerable and recaptures the Sins after forcefully pulling the Eye out of Sivana’s head.

Billy and his foster siblings are hailed as heroes. They return the Sins to their prison and realize they can use the Rock of Eternity as their superhero headquarters. Billy finally accepts his foster parents and siblings as his “real” family.

In his superhero form, he has lunch with his siblings at school, revealing to Freddy’s surprise that he has also invited Superman. In a mid-credits scene, the imprisoned Sivana is approached by a talking caterpillar who proposes an alliance.