By most accounts, the ‘Shazam!’ trailer for David F. Sandberg‘s upcoming superhero flick stole the show at SDCC. Fans found the goofy, fun clip to be a welcome antidote to the overly morbid slate of DC movies that have come before, highlighted by Zachary Levi essentially playing a 14-year-old boy. But there was one element that doesn’t meet Sandberg’s high standards and it’s a pretty major one– the visual effects.
In particular, one fan inquired about the transformation scene, which they found lacking. In the trailer, Asher Angel‘s Billy Batson is seen walking through a Christmas village when he shouts “Shazam!” There is a flash of lightning and a cloud of smoke and Levi’s adult hero Shazam replaces him. According to Sandberg, that scene will pop a lot more in the finished film, as will the other effects on display. Via Twitter, he wrote:
None of the vfx in this early trailer are final so things might look quite different in the final film. That’s definitely a shot that will continue to be tweaked. https://t.co/cu6nx07c0j
— David F. Sandberg (@ponysmasher) July 23, 2018
There is still almost a year before ‘Shazam!’ actually booms its way into theaters, so there is plenty of time to enhance things. James Wan had a much bigger uphill battle in creating an entire underwater civilization, in roughly the same amount of time, for ‘Aquaman’ and the trailer for that film was also warmly received at SDCC.
With the unveiling of the name The Worlds of DC, it appears that Warner Brothers is ready to look strictly to the future, letting its dark disappointments in the past. The lighthearted ‘Shazam!’ takes this franchise in an entirely different direction, and if the trailer is any indication, fans are on board for the trip.
Directed by David F. Sandberg, ‘Shazam!’ stars Zachary Levi, Asher Angel, Mark Strong, Cooper Andrews, Jovan Armand, Adam Brody, Ross Butler, Ian Chen, DJ Cotrona, Grace Fulton, Meagan Good, Jack Dylan Grazer, Faithe Herman, Ron Cephas Jones and Marta Milans. The film opens on April 5, 2019.