Billy Batson has almost finished his second adventure! Director David F. Sandberg revealed via Instagram that Shazam! Fury of the Gods is almost done filming, with the superhero sequel exceeding the amount of time it took to shoot the 2019 original. With filming nearly finished, the film should stay on track for its projected 2023 release date, following up on the heels of the 2022 prequel/spinoff film Black Adam.
Sandberg announced the film’s near-completion with a photo of his own director’s chair, embossed with his full name spelled out in the classic Shazam! font. “Day 68,” the director writes in his post. “This is how many days the first Shazam shoot was. Almost at the finish line!” It’s no surprise that Fury of the Gods, with an expanded cast, has gone over the time it took to tell Billy Batson’s origin story, and a long shoot can only mean more exciting surprises in store when Shazam! finally returns to our screens.
Sandberg has been tracking the progress of the shoot on his Instagram over the course of the last few weeks, posting cryptic behind-the-scenes photos of pieces of the film’s set, as well as a first look at the Batson siblings all “grown up”, so to speak. Does this (possibly final) update mean we’ll see a trailer at the upcoming DC FanDome event in October? With the film's current 2023 release date, the idea is highly unlikely, but in a cinematic universe full of children who can transform themselves into extraordinary superheroes? We’ve seen stranger things.
Fury of the Gods has quite the reputation to live up to, with its predecessor grossing $366 million worldwide upon its release in 2019, as well as holding steady at a 90% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. It will also be competing for success after the release of Black Adam, the Dwayne Johnson-led prequel telling the story of a deranged Egyptian demigod who makes a fatal mistake for himself and for humanity — though Sandberg has also teased the possibility that Black Adam could make an appearance in Fury of the Gods.
Shazam! Fury of the Gods stars Zachary Levi, Asher Angel, Jack Dylan Grazer, Djimon Hounsou, Rachel Zegler, Helen Mirren, and Lucy Liu. Directed by Sandberg, with a script from Henry Gayden, the sequel is due out in theaters on June 2, 2023. Check out Sandberg’s post below: