The DCEU continues to undergo shakeups, with plenty of projects in the early stages of development, but very few actually penciled in with firm release dates. Until now, we had Aquaman on December 21st and Wonder Woman 2 on November 1, 2019, but now Shazam! is officially on the schedule. According to THR, Warner Bros. will release the super movie on April 5, 2019 where it currently has no competition.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Shazam!, the story follows young Billy Batson, a boy who wen he says the magic word “SHAZAM” (acronym of six "immortal elders": Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles and Mercury) he transforms into an adult with the powers of superhuman strength, speed, flight, and more. Zachary Levi, who plays Shazam, recently said that the approach to the adaptation was like “Big meets Superman” which sounds absolutely delightful. Asher Angel will play Billy Batson while Dylan Grazer (It) will play Billy’s best friend. Mark Strong is in talks to play the villain.

David F. Sandberg (Lights Out) will direct from a script by Henry Gayden and Darren Lemke. Filming will likely be underway soon if they’re planning to hit an April 2019 release date. The April date should be a solid landing spot for Shazam! (assuming it doesn’t get shifted around the schedule). The DCEU needs a bit of a rebound, and Shazam! is coming in cold in that the character hasn’t featured in any DCEU movie thus far. Levi teased a possible Wonder Woman cameo, but even if Diana shows up, you still have a new superhero on the scene.

That being said, they seem to have a charming take on the material, and with Shazam! opening in April, it’s not like Warner Bros’ is banking its summer slate on the movie. Hopefully, we’ll have more details on the project soon, and I wouldn’t be surprised if we get the first official look sometime around Comic-Con.

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Image via DC
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Image via DC
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Image via DC Comics