John August's Shazam! Not Happening

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John August's Shazam! Not Happening

January 6, 2009

Screenwriter John August (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) is speaking out on his blog about his long-in-development Captain Marvel project, originally for New Line and then taken over by Warner Bros. during the merger last year. Based on the Fawcett Comics character created by C.C. Beck and Bill Parker in 1939, Shazam! was going to be directed by Get Smart director Peter Segal. In fact, there was a Warner Bros. press release roughly six weeks ago, which you can read here, confirming Segal was still attached to direct the project based on August's script.

Superhero Hype! has spoken to both John August and Peter Segal a number of times in recent years about the developing project, both of whom confirmed it would be handled as an action-comedy. Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson had pretty much been sewn up to play Captain Marvel baddie Black Adam. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like Warner Bros. is interested in John August's comedic direction for the character anymore, despite that being the way the character was mostly depicted in comic books over the past 70 years.

On the blog, August goes into great detail about his dealings with New Line and Warner Bros. both before and after last year's writers strike and how communication stalled when it felt like Warner Bros. wasn't on the same page to do an action-comedy take on the character that could appeal to younger kids as well as adults. Rather, they seemed to want to go into darker territory following the success of The Dark Knight.

It's fascinating reading for those who've been following the project or are interested in the behind-the-scenes of the development of a comic book based film project, but August's lament about the project concludes with:

By the time I got back, the project was dead. By "dead," I mean that it won't be happening. I don't think it's on the studio's radar at all. It may come back in another incarnation, with another writer, but I can say with considerable certainty that it won't be the version I developed.

You can read the entire story of the way the project has seemingly stalled over on John August's blog.

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Posted by: The Tick on January 6, 2009 at 08:08:48

wow really?!

Posted by: The Tick on January 6, 2009 at 08:09:30

Wait, was I first?

Posted by: abitaman on January 6, 2009 at 08:10:15

Why does everything have to be dark. Unless they were going with a dark tone, but still keeping the character who he is. They should do that in Superman too. Fine if the tone is dark, but keep Superman who he is. Keep Captain Marvel who he is.

Posted by: TheFireFlyII on January 6, 2009 at 08:10:44

JEesh....Dark dark dark!!! Ever superhero from DC must be Dark. Thanks DARK Knight, Warner Bros. thinks every superhero movie should be batman.

Posted by: Gibralter on January 6, 2009 at 08:11:22

Awww but I want big gold bolts of lightning.

Posted by: J.R. Lopez on January 6, 2009 at 08:15:41

This is just incredible WB + DC = Pure Crap!!

Posted by: SUPADAMAN on January 6, 2009 at 08:16:04

First!!! I always wanted ta say that.

Posted by: bill on January 6, 2009 at 08:16:31

shazam

Posted by: Venom on January 6, 2009 at 08:21:13

Way to go Warner Bros. another DC character gets the axe. Face it Warner Bros. just can't win unless the character is Batman. Superman needs to be rebooted but not a dark version? All he needs is a more powerful enemy (Darkside, Metallo, Brainiac, so forth..) and a little more action scenes. Shazam sounded cool but now they want to make him dark too? What's next a bad ass version of Plastic Man!! There is only one Dark Knight and that is Batman it works for him, the other characters are not like him and that's what makes him awesome. Please for the love of GOD just give us more DC character movies: Flash, Wonder Woman, Green Latern, Shazam, and so forth, we have been waiting forever. By the time DC comes out with another superhero movie (and this doesn't include the Watchmen, which I hope WB and Fox can settle quickly and not screw the fans) Marvel will have already given us about 2 Avenger Movies. DC you can hold off on the Justice League, until you establish at least the main characters in their own feature films. Just stop wasting time and give us fans what we want!

Posted by: speedracer216 on January 6, 2009 at 08:26:54

look, i wasn't excited for this anyway, but why does everyone think EVERYTHING has to be like Batman?

the WHOLE point of BB and TDK was that it was getting back to his ROOTS which were dark. for someone like captain marvel, superman, etc. - going back to their roots is NOT dark. so it won't do them any good.

same problem as saying "ironman is in the real world" what? no he's not. that suit is impossible, and that's what we love about it! batman succeeds by being dark and real because that's how it started. stopping messing everything else up by trying to make them what they're not.

Posted by: jimbob on January 6, 2009 at 08:39:52

Why does everyone seem to think Batmas roots were that dark. In the old comics he was a light character (pretty much summed up by Adam West in the series). Its only in the last 20 years that he's got consistantly darker!

Posted by: A-COD on January 6, 2009 at 08:41:36

Shazam would have made Steele look like the Dark Knight.

Posted by: Shroud on January 6, 2009 at 08:43:52

they still don't get why the dark night did so well

idiots

Posted by: Shame... on January 6, 2009 at 08:45:01

as much as I loathe the recent fad of turning every franchise into a brainless, ambition-free action comedy (see Iron Man and its complete lack of ambition - outside of piling up jokes and 'splosions to water down the most adult and complex Marvel character only to suit a hack director's "style"), I concur with what's been said: darker is not necessarily better, and not every franchise has to follow Nolan's route.

However, if August turned out a harebrained script a la Fantastic Four, then "darker" takes another meaning. It's a matter of relativity, and it all comes down to the supposed silliness of his draft. In an (understandably) angry screenwriter's words, "darker" doesn't necessarily mean TDK. The guy wrote Charlie's Angels, remember...

Posted by: Nicola Boden on January 6, 2009 at 08:45:19

DO SOMETHING! I'm tired of DC and WB starting things it doesn't intend to finish.I'm OK with 'dark' captain Marvel as the original Fawcett comics were quite dark I just want WB to put their minds to something and see it through to the end. I don't care if it Green Lantern, Flash, Wonder Woman, Captain Marvel or Teen Titans just commit.

Posted by: cellus on January 6, 2009 at 08:45:25

In keeping with the "dark" tone, Wonder Woman" will be rebooted to portray her as a hooker who is given powers by the gods.

Posted by: cellus on January 6, 2009 at 08:50:54

By the way Jimbob, Batman was very dark in the begining. The guy killed criminals. And in the 70's Neal Adams and Denny Oneal brought him back to his darker ...more serious roots. So it's been more than just 20 years.

the 50's and 60's were not the norm.

Posted by: Doc Shaner on January 6, 2009 at 08:56:26

I get the feeling that Dark Knight has done to superhero movies (at least DC's) what Watchmen did to comics in '85. I like both, but they seem to make people think you have to take everything super dark and gritty for a successful product. Disappointing as I was really looking forward to a Captain Marvel movie.

Posted by: speedracer216 on January 6, 2009 at 08:59:46

@ jimbob

in the 50's and 60's batman got campy. all heros had sidekicks and it was partly reflecting the adam west series.

BUT when he started batman was dark. a small boy who's parents are murdered in front of him. need i go further? he chose "batman" to terrify criminals, he worked from an underground cave he even used guns very early on. and he wasn't fighting aliens or batmite for YEARS. it was criminals, murderers, etc.

Posted by: Rob on January 6, 2009 at 09:02:08

Jimbob, the Bob Kane Batman stories weren't like the Adam West series. He started off dark and considering that he would maim and even kill some criminals, certain aspects were darker than they are today. It wasn't until Robin came in that the character began to get lighter.

Absolutely agree with everyone else though. The Nolan films are good because they represent the essence of the character which is dark. Adaptations of their other characters should also be based on the essence of what has made the characters work and endure which varies. Superman, for example, is not a sinister dark character focused on spreading fear. Yes he has drama in his life but he's very different from Batman. I know Warners made TDK but they should also learn from the success of franchises like Spider-man and last years Iron Man. Both hugely successful because they stayed true to the character rather than trying to force them into a Batman shaped hole.

Why do they think audiences just want more of the same anyway?

Posted by: Relaxed on January 6, 2009 at 09:03:27

As good as TDK is, I think it's negatively affecting Hollywood in general. Combine the revenue made with TDK to the somewhat tepid reactions to the more lighthearted FF4 movies as well as the lukewarm reception to Superman Returns. Then understand if you didn't already know that Hollywood is 5% originality and 95% copycat, and the writing is on the wall. Hollywood is now afraid of anything fun, silly, or emotionally uplifting. Dark, dark, dark, and throw some depressingly dark on top of that. That's what you're going to see out of Hollywood for a while. They're possibly rebooting Superman and all we hear out of Warner Brothers is that they need to make him darker. Silver Surfer was thought to be getting his own film, but FF4-2 didn't get the reactions they were hoping for. I'm not blaming TDK. Cellus is right. TDK more closely represented the original Batman mythos than previous movie incarnations. But that's Batman. If Hollywood doesn't get that "dark" works only when appropriate, we're going to see a drug abusing Superman and a Spiderman movie where he marries Mary Jane only to become a wife abusing alcoholic.

Posted by: Dave on January 6, 2009 at 09:04:36

The idiots in charge at WB and DC should look at other successful comic movies besides The Dark Knight and realize that "dark" only works if it suits the character. Iron Man was a huge hit, but it wasn't "dark". The "grim n' gritty" '80's are over, people. Captain Marvel is NOT a dark character by any definition. I am beyond sick and tired of these idiot studio executives and directors saying "I don't care why this character has worked for 60 years. I'm doing it MY way!". Look at what Marvel is doing, you idiots. They're trying to get more to the essence of why the character is cool in the first place, not trying to make everyone Batman. And thus far, it's working. I want to see a new Superman and a Captain Marvel movie, but I want to see happy, upbeat movies that reflect the essence of why those characters have become the icons they are, not "Dark Knight parts 2 and 3".

Posted by: mangele on January 6, 2009 at 09:05:02

good, we don't need another movie by the director of get smart.

action comedy? horrible idea. give me a reason to care for the characters, give it some weight. going dark and creating real tension for a change sounds great to me.

well played WB. take time and do it right.
oh and you kids who think they mean to make it just like the Dark Knight are taking the 'dark' idea too literally. relax, jesus.

Posted by: Bart on January 6, 2009 at 09:10:25

C'mon...Captain Marvel as a movie was an idiotic idea in the first place. And why the fan-boy angst over going darker...it's not like the comic version was all that popular anyway. It's a minor Superman knock off at best. Besides, did any of you expect more from a creatively bankrupt Hollywood?

Posted by: He-man on January 6, 2009 at 09:11:12

Great I'm glad that I don't have to see the stupid Rock playing Black Adam. Rock SUCKS

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