Shazam! 2 plans to film in the first quarter of 2021, confirms star Zachary Levi, who says New Line Cinema and Warner Bros. have to “get to it” soon because the sequel’s young stars are “growing fast.” Levi, who plays the adult-sized superhero alter ego of Asher Angel’s teenaged Billy Batson, reunites with his Shazam! director David F. Sandberg and screenwriter Henry Gayden for the sequel teaming the eponymous superhero with his “Shazamily.” The magic-powered foster family — Freddy (Jack Dylan Grazer, Adam Brody), Eugene (Ian Chen, Ross Butler), Pedro (Jovan Armand, D.J. Cotrona), Darla (Faithe Herman, Meagan Good), and Mary (Grace Fulton, Michelle Borth) — featured on an unofficial teaser poster released during DC FanDome revealing the sequel’s title as Shazam! Fury of the Gods.
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“They announced that we were gonna do a sequel pretty much right after we premiered. They knew we were tracking well enough, they were happy enough with the numbers,” Levi said on Dan Fogler’s 4D Xperience. “So they have been steadily and earnestly working on the script for the sequel and I think Q1 of next year is the idea.”
“COVID has kind of made everything a little bit up in the air, but very much the intent is to make another one,” he added. “We gotta get to it fast, the kids are growing fast.”
In April, following a shift that pushed Robert Pattinson’s The Batman from June to October 2021, Warners bumped up Ezra Miller’s The Flash from July to June 2022 and moved its Shazam! sequel from April to November 2022.
“It was gonna be April 2022 and then they pushed [the date], partly because of COVID, I think,” Levi said. “I’m actually quite grateful — I think a November release is a better calendar [spot].”
Because its early November release is going into the Christmas season, he added, “Hopefully, we can kind of float and keep it going into the holidays. Aquaman had that right-before-Christmas release and [grossed] a billion-plus dollars.”
During a summer convention appearance in 2019, Levi said the studio wanted to make Shazam! 2 “as soon as possible” because of its younger cast.
“They want to make it as soon as possible because those kids are growing up like weeds,” he said during Germany’s CCXP Cologne convention. “So if we don’t do that in like the next two days, they’re gonna be full-grown adults.”
Shazam! Fury of the Gods will open in theaters on November 4, 2022.
