Shazam Director Jokes About His Film Being a Remake of the Shaq Genie Movie

Shazam! was a nice surprise for audiences earlier this year who might not have been familiar with the character. But, with that name attached to the film, it is only normal that people might mix it up with another big project from the past featuring a larger-than-life-personality. David Sandberg saw one of the Amazon movie reviews of Shazam! on Twitter and decided to make the best of a pretty hysterical burn from the random commenter. This is a crossover that you probably have never considered before.

Amazon’s user review is a startling one star for a pretty fun and interesting movie. But, the comment alongside it is the real kicker as the person in question says that they preferred the Shaq version. Now, that actually wasn’t Shazam!, but instead a movie from the 90s called Kazaam. A young kid frees a genie from his containment in that 1996 feature and Shaquille O’Neal stars as the fun-loving big man. (Not to dissimilar from his role in, you know, everyday life.)

There might not have been an NBA Champion present in Shazam!, but the studio was surely impressed with the film’s box office success. Sandberg will be back in the saddle to direct the follow-up whenever that happens. The release date hasn’t been set yet, but that doesn’t mean people aren’t already angling for plot details. Shazam! producer Peter Safran told Comicbook.com earlier this year that there might be something more to that Mister Mind tease in one of the film’s credits teases.

“Mister Mind’s been around almost as long as Shazam has been around, right?” Safran began. “We just thought it was a really fun way to go. It would be funny even if you didn’t know who Mister Mind was, just looking at the way the scene played out would be fun, but if you do know who he is, you think, ‘Oh yeah. This is an interesting direction to go. What’s going to happen here?’”

The speculation doesn’t stop there though. Shazam! star Zachary Levi told a crowd at a convention appearance earlier this summer that he felt a sequel was on the way. Due to the first film’s success, the second one would hopefully be pumped out as fast as possible.

“I know that I’m gonna have a conversation with my bosses pretty soon about what the idea is and where we’re going with the new movie,” Levi said at CCSP. “But all I really know is that New Line, our studio, and Warner Brothers, our parent studio, and DC, and our producers and executives and everybody who’s involved in all of the decision making, they’re all very happy with what we did. They want to do even better the second time around, and they are crafting a story right now as we speak about what that sequel is going to be.”

Shazam! is now available wherever movies are sold while Joker is in theaters. Other upcoming DC movies include Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) on February 7, 2020, Wonder Woman 1984 on June 5, 2020, The Batman on June 25, 2021, The Suicide Squad on August 6, 2021, and Aquaman 2 on December 16, 2022