Shazam: Fury of the Gods

Filming has wrapped on the sequel to the best DC film nobody remembers (or remembered to watch). Maybe it was just low expectations being exceeded, but I am looking forward to seeing Sandberg's follow-up

It looks "bigger" in its scope than the first film. Hopefully the core appeal and themes haven't been lost trying to accommodate all the splashier FX and bombast.

The director, David F. Sandberg, runs a YouTube channel that's quite interesting as he's often quite candid about his process; his little videos about how he achieved "professional" shoots with DIY solutions back in his bootstrap days have been fun.

Here, he breaks down his own trailer and its constituent easter eggs. It's quite cool to hear someone down to earth talk about their work quite openly. I hadn't realised the most-excellent video-game some of ye might have heard of - iconoclasts - was made by Sandberg's own brother.

A distinctly serious tone in that trailer, which would be at odds with the more comedic edge of the first film. Odd decision given this is a sequel so people would (presumably) know what they're getting into.

I remember in the first film's thread, there was this user who was really angry and upset with the Shazam promos, picking faults with the canon or tone. Kept posting - a lot - with English that suggested they were far from a native speaker; I do find myself wondering if they ever watched Shazam in the end - and what they made of it. Can't recall the username but it was a busy thread because of them, then they disappeared.

More like this has had bugger all promotion and buzz, while Shazam 1 was a modest surprise that exceeded expectations. In that it was, and remains, the least bankable DC property of the current stable.

For reference, the first film made €366 million off of a 100 mill budget (so says boxofficemojo).

So not exactly a hit that kicked the doors down here; rather a sleeper hit that did ok but rated well with audiences. But never quite etched itself into the superhero zeitgeist either so a sequel always had a very tough job.

I like the director though so hope he does well from this; he seems very self-effacing and down to earth, his YouTube channel really revealing and honest.