‘Shazam!’ Director on Why the Movie Is Set at Christmas

Shazam! might be hitting multiplexes in the spring, but it sounds like the film will be channeling an entirely different time of year.

ComicBook.com was among the outlets that got to speak to director David F. Sandberg during a visit to the film’s set. As Sandberg revealed, the film takes place during the winter holiday season, which has a unique bearing on the film’s plot.

“Yeah, it’s all about family and like Christmas time and this family holiday,” Sandberg explained. “It’s about finding your family … with these foster kids and everything. So yeah, it’s very appropriate for the story.”

But apparently, achieving a Christmas aesthetic had a handful of downsides, mainly when it came to filming conditions.

“It just meant that we had to shoot it here in winter, which has been pretty brutal,” Sandberg continued. “Actually, on location and during nights. ‘Cause they were telling me ‘If you shoot the carnival, like during the day, you get more kid hours, everything will be easier.’ And I was like, ‘It’s not going to look good with all the lights and everything.’ So we’ve been shooting it during the night, and its been pretty miserable.”

Sandberg and Shazam! star Zachary Levi previously spoke to ComicBook.com about the Christmas setting, and how it ties to the New 52 iteration of the character that the film is based on.

“It feels like a Christmas movie to me,” Sandberg revealed. “It’s about family, and finding your family, you have these orphans or foster kids… and Christmas is very much a family holiday, so it sort of ties it all together in that way.”

“That was a Christmas story in [the New 52 run], so I think that’s gotta play something into it,” Levi added.

“Yeah, and that was the idea Geoff Johns had for that as well, that it’s a family holiday,” Sandberg echoed.

Shazam! will star Asher Angel as Billy Batson, a foster kid whose life gets turned upside down when he is given the magic powers to turn into an adult superhero (played by Levi). The film’s cast also includes Jack Dylan Grazer, Mark Strong, Cooper Andrews, and Grace Fulton. The film will be the third major superhero movie to be set in the Christmas season, following Batman Returns and Iron Man 3.

What do you think of Shazam! being set in the holiday season? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

Shazam is scheduled to release on April 5th. Other upcoming DC films include Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) on February 7, 2020 and Wonder Woman 1984 on June 5, 2020.