Welcome to this week’s film update where we have more news items than Zack Snyder has oddly-timed revelations about Batman v Superman. And thankfully with April Fool’s Day behind us we don’t have to worry about outlandish news stories masquerading as fact, just rumors masquerading as fact. Here is your weekly update of the announcements and rumors that have released from March 30-April 5.
First up in Shazam! news, director David Sandberg took to Twitter to mention the sorts of practical effects we can expect to see in the film. Sandberg tweeted “When practical fx guys ask me what kind of explosion I want and I tell them to “Michael Bay it” they always look so happy.” Meanwhile, star Zachary Levi was active last week stating in an interview with EW:
I can’t tell you much, as you can probably imagine, but what I can say is I am just out of my mind excited! I get to do my version of Big, basically. It’s like Superman meets Big, and that’s just so fun. I get to be a superhero that’s excited about being a superhero, and I think that’s refreshing. It’s not glum, and like, ‘Oh, I have to save the world again.’ So I think it’s all really gravy.
Now the suit for the film has been a bit divisive with some not liking the color, or claiming it’s padded. Levi said of those naysayers in an Instagram video:
I think any of you people out there who are still hung up on what the suit looks like are just wanting to be angry for angry sake. I think you’re very insecure, you’re probably dealing with some stuff in your own life and you feel a little powerless and I’m sorry that you do.
Wrapping up Shazam! news, Sandberg had a little fun with fans for April Fool’s Day, posting a “teaser trailer” for the upcoming film which ended up actually being footage of the classic 1970’s television show of the same name. Now if we can get a similar Aquaman teaser that reuses footage from the never-aired pilot of the Smallville spin-off.
I’m just going to leave this here… ⚡ pic.twitter.com/xt2KeSJTN2
— David F. Sandberg (@ponysmasher) April 1, 2018
On to some Batman-related movie news; Joe Manganiello, who portrayed Deathstroke in the post-credits sequence of Justice League told Variety, with regards to his solo film, that “There are things in the works, that’s all I can say.” We tend to hear that a lot with these films. Meanwhile, Joaquin Phoenix had this to say to Fandango about taking on the role of the joker: “I don’t know… it could be an interesting character, I don’t know.”
As for actual Batman film, director Matt Reeves said via Twitter that pre-production is going “really, really well, thanks! I could not be more excited!” What we did learn this week in the form of a rumor circulating the Internet started by Manabyte (which the article was then conveniently has been since removed from the internet) this week hinted that The Batman would focus on the death of Jason Todd storyline from the comics. Fans speculation ran rampant before an insider told The Wrap the rumor was unequivocally false. While the story would make for a great movie, it does bring along with it the issue of the Joker and which version would be used in a film and would Harley Quinn be involved as well given an Easter egg in Suicide Squad had her as an accomplice to Jason’s murder.
Director Doug Liman had some words to say to Screen Geek regarding his departure from the Justice League Dark film. It turns out part of his departure was due to wanting to move away from the work Guillermo Del Toro had done on the film before Liman came on board. The director said:
I may do these sort of big high concept movies, but I always choose projects where I see myself in them. There has to be a really personal connection to it. At the end of the day, I wasn’t gonna find myself in Del Toro’s version of Justice League Dark. I just wouldn’t see myself in that.
Finishing out the week is news that the Flash movie, which was once to be known as Flashpoint, might not actually retain that title when it hits theaters. Borys Kit of The Hollywood Reporter suggested that the film had been titled Flashpoint, but used the past tense in his article, leading some to speculate the name had changed. Kit took to Twitter to clear up his assertion, causing a bit more confusion in the process when he wrote “I didn’t say they weren’t adapting Flashpoint. All I said was that it wouldn’t be titled Flashpoint. But maybe I’ve said too much.” Now does this mean that the storyline will still be followed? We don’t know at this point. Perhaps the title will be more in line with recent DC relaunches such as Flash: Rebirth and be what leads to a lighter, brighter DCEU. Honestly, the title of these films doesn’t really matter, as it’s the actual content of the films that has more importance. So try not to get hung up on name changes.
That’s all for this week, folks. Sound off in the comments on which storyline you hope The Batman draws inspiration from, or do you want a completely original Batman story on the big screen? Let us know!
