Shazam! is extremely funny: Peter

Shazam! is an ultimate wish fulfilment movie, says producer Peter Safran. Set firmly in the DC universe with his own distinctly fun, family-centric tone, the superhero film is a story of wish fulfilment. Teen orphan Billy Batson (Asher Angel) is granted the ability by an ancient wizard to transform into a super-powered adult with strength, invincibility, flight and other powers — all by saying the wizard’s name: Shazam.

Directed by David F. Sandberg, this film is based on how we all have a superhero inside us and it just takes a bit of magic to bring it out. The Warner Bros Pictures project will release in India on April 5.

“He’s very different than a lot of the other superheroes that are out there, frankly than any of the other superheroes out there, and I think that that’s one thing that’s really going to set Shazam! apart from the other superhero movies that have come down the pipeline over the course of the last decade,” Safran said in a statement. “He is a kid in a superhero’s body. It’s the ultimate wish fulfilment movie. And it’s extraordinarily funny. Everybody can relate to the idea of what would you do if today you were suddenly a superhero? How would you respond to that? And the answer to that question is very different when you’re a 14-year-old boy than when you’re already an adult,” he added. Talking about the director, Safran said: “First of all, David is a complete filmmaker. I’ve said before that he is very much the spiritual successor to James Wan, and both of them came through horror into the DC universe. — IaNS