Darren Lemke To Script Shazam Movie

Darren Lemke of Jack the Giant Slayer and Goosebumps is Warner Bros.' choice to write the feature film adaptation of DC Comics's Shazam, Variety reports.

Star Dwayne Johnson and Hiram Garcia are also producing the film, which Variety says will roll out at Warner imprint New Line Cinema. Johnson earlier today confirmed via Twitter that he will play Black Adam, the longtime villain who recently has been reimagined as more of an antihero thanks in no small part to DC Chief Creative Officer Geoff Johns, who has worked with the character since his days on JSA.

"We Love Dwayne and have had nothing but success with him over the years," said Toby Emmerich, President and COO of New Line. "When I look at Dwayne both off screen and on screen, he is such a larger than life character and it just made perfect sense to me that we put him in a DC comic movie. You look at these comic book characters and they have this certain swag and charisma that Dwayne carries with him where ever he is so that's why this always made sense."

Shazam, previously known as Captain Marvel, hasn't had his own ongoing series since the launch of the New 52 but has appeared as a backup feature in Justice League. He was featured prominently in the animated films Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox and Justice League: War, leading to speculation that the character could be in line to appear in the upcoming live-action version of Justice League. 

No official release date is set for Shazam yet, although most expect it will hit in either August 2016 or in 2017.