Shazam! Fury of the Gods Delayed Five Days to Avoid Avatar 2

The trailer for Avatar: The Way of Water hasn't even been released publicly, only shown at CinemaCon, and Warner Bros. Pictures has elected to delay the upcoming Shazam! Fury of the Gods from the same release date. Initially set to arrive on December 16 alongside the James Cameron sequel, the DC Comics sequel movie will now be released on December 21st instead. This may not seem like much but the Christmas movie season is a competitive but open time for audiences, meaning something that's perhaps more family suited like Shazam! 2 could draw plenty of eyes its way while everyone is milling about the multiplex on holiday break (the animated Mario movie recently vacated the very spot that Shazam! just took).

Avatar 2 wasn't the only thing to show off footage at CinemaCon this week though as the David F. Sandberg-directed Shazam! sequel was present last night with a couple of sequences from the movie. Included in the footage was a moment where Shazam! the hero, played once again by Zachary Levi, is seen in Paris on a date with Wonder Woman, though clearly not Gal Gadot. In another scene, Asher Angel's Billy is with Helen Mirren's character and tells her that he's seen all of the Fast & Furious movies, noting that saving the world is all about family, a mantra from the franchise which Mirren also appears. The Shazam Family then shows up, who we also see fighting a huge dragon with glowing blue eyes.

"I would say they've been doing this whole superhero thing for a while now. And you know last time everybody saw Billy he was a kid," Angel said at the WB CinemaCon panel. "And these last couple years he's grown up a lot. He's matured and he's been able to balance himself pretty well. But I would say that adulthood is on the horizon for him and that's kind of a scary thing because he doesn't know what's gonna happen when he's 18 years old. He doesn't know if he's gonna have to leave the foster family or go somewhere else. He really doesn't know what's gonna happen. so I would say that weighs pretty heavily on him and he's just kind of trying to enjoy the moment and be with his family, be with his loved ones and hey, have these superpowers because it's always he's ever wanted and more."  

Do you think Shazam! Fury of the Gods moving back five days will be a good decision for its box office prospects or will Avatar: The Way of Water simply dominate everything around it? Sound off in the comments below and let us know.