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John August's Shazam! Not Happening

January 6, 2009

Screenwriter John August (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) is speaking out on his blog about his long-in-development Captain Marvel project, originally for New Line and then taken over by Warner Bros. during the merger last year. Based on the Fawcett Comics character created by C.C. Beck and Bill Parker in 1939, Shazam! was going to be directed by Get Smart director Peter Segal. In fact, there was a Warner Bros. press release roughly six weeks ago, which you can read here, confirming Segal was still attached to direct the project based on August's script.

ComingSoon.net/Superhero Hype! has spoken to both John August and Peter Segal a number of times in recent years about the developing project, both of whom confirmed it would be handled as an action-comedy. Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson had pretty much been sewn up to play Captain Marvel baddie Black Adam. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like Warner Bros. is interested in John August's comedic direction for the character anymore, despite that being the way the character was mostly depicted in comic books over the past 70 years.

On the blog, August goes into great detail about his dealings with New Line and Warner Bros. both before and after last year's writers strike and how communication stalled when it felt like Warner Bros. wasn't on the same page to do an action-comedy take on the character that could appeal to younger kids as well as adults. Rather, they seemed to want to go into darker territory following the success of The Dark Knight.

It's fascinating reading for those who've been following the project or are interested in the behind-the-scenes of the development of a comic book based film project, but August's lament about the project concludes with:

By the time I got back, the project was dead. By "dead," I mean that it won't be happening. I don't think it's on the studio's radar at all. It may come back in another incarnation, with another writer, but I can say with considerable certainty that it won't be the version I developed.

You can read the entire story of the way the project has seemingly stalled over on John August's blog.

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COMMENTS (22)

Posted by:

Red

January 6, 2009

wow it's sad to hear this news but oh well room for original ideas.

Posted by:

BasementAddix

January 6, 2009

With Black Adam as the baddie...and the way DC is now...I'd prefer a darker version instead of another "Steel" movie...

Posted by:

tsfogg

January 6, 2009

But not every character is as dark as Batman. Not every character needs to be approached with "gritty realism." Comic books are fantasies. Some need a touch of whimsy. I think Captain Marvel could have been a lot of fun.

Posted by:

Gay Jesus

January 6, 2009

Thought process of WB execs:

Gee, our two most recent big budget productions are Speed Racer and The Dark Knight. Speed Racer was a colossal flop and The Dark Knight was a huge success. Speed Racer = kid-friendly and lighthearted; The Dark Knight = dark, therefore kid-friendly = bad and dark = must have more of! And they're taking this formula to all the films in development.

Did they ever consider that one movie was a flop because it was a BAD movie, and the other a huge success because it was a GOOD movie? And it has nothing to do with the themes and genres involved? Did they ever try to remember that they have had kid-friendly movies that were huge successes and dark movies that were colossal failures? The idiocy is astonishing.

Posted by:

Mike

January 6, 2009

Before anyone makes any claims about all the WB/DC properties being "dark and gritty" or whatever I think it would be helpful to know exactly how comedic this movie was supposed to be. I'm pretty comfortable with a portrayal of Captain Marvel that's more in line with how he's shown in current comic books. It's certainly not Batman gritty but it's not the Archies either. If you look at John August's career he's done several Tim Burton movies and the Charlie's Angels abortions, but he also did Go. So is his version of Shazam more Go or more like the fanciful, funny world of Tim Burton? I'd prefer Go...there's a little depth, a little darkness but also some humor.

Captain Marvel is going to have to feature a kid and kids can really mess things up (Phantom Menace). Kids make lazy writers want to put in lazy scatalogical humor and a lot of slapstick.

Posted by:

Lipps

January 6, 2009

To be honest...I wouldnt count on many high budget movies coming out of WB besides Harry Potter soon.

Infact I see WB folding and not finishing the Harry Potter series at all. Lately there have been reports that WB might not be finishing the franchise with its two movies.

Reason being WB just lost a HUGE lawsuit with "The Watchmen" to Fox (WB's fault - Why make a movie when someone else has rights to it?) and also WB is in another lawsuit with the J.R.R Tolkein estate and that has still not been settled. The Tolkein estate is saying they still have not recieved any money from ANY of the LoTR movies. If that is true, than WB is in trouble and they know it.

Dark Knight might have made them some money but they just lost alot of it with "Watchmen" and eventually with Tolkein.....

Posted by:

That Guy

January 6, 2009

A movie like this gets trashed and yet, we'll probably get more 'Epic Movies' and 'Paul Blart Mall Cop's.

About time the government starts bailing out the movie industry.

Posted by:

darwin

January 6, 2009

From John August's blog

"But to do so ignores the success of Iron Man, which spent most of its running time as a comedic origin story, and the even more pertinent example of WB�s own Harry Potter series. I tried to make this case, to no avail."

Correct me if I'm wrong but I wouldn't exactly call Iron Man a comedic origin story. Sure, there were some funny moments but getting kidnapped by terrorists to build a weapon of mass destruction isn't exactly a funny thing. Also, Harry Potter is pretty dark in its own right now. I don't exactly see John August's point about it being a comedy as I wouldn't choose to use that term to describe Iron Man nor Harry Potter.

Posted by:

January 6, 2009

Why the **** does WB think every super hero have to be dark?!? What the **** is wrong with them.

Posted by:

Chris

January 6, 2009

Crap. "Dark Knight" is ruining everything now. I don't want dark, gritty realism in every superhero movie. I watch films to have fun. Did they forget that "Iron Man" set a new standard as well? Even "Silver Surfer" has earned more viewings from me than "Dark Knight" ever has.

If they stay the course, this whole "darkness" thing will backfire on them. The same thing happened when everyone started knocking off "The Matrix," "Lord of the Rings," and "Shrek." Just because it works once doesn't mean it won't get old fast.