Shazam! (2019)
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A foster child becomes a powerful superhero after being chosen by an ancient wizard.
The story
The film follows teenager Billy Batson as he is chosen by the ancient wizard Shazam to be his new champion by saying the name "Shazam", allowing him to transform into an adult superhero with various superpowers. Billy and his foster brother Freddy Freeman must discover Billy's new powers in order to stop the evil Dr. Thaddeus Sivana and the Seven Deadly Sins.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
In 1974, Thaddeus Sivana is transported to the Rock of Eternity but is deemed unworthy by the wizard Shazam. In the present day, 14-year-old foster child Billy Batson is searching for his birth mother. After being pursued into a subway car, he is transported to the Rock of Eternity, where the dying wizard chooses him as his new champion. By saying "Shazam", Billy transforms into an adult superhero. He teams up with his foster brother Freddy to master his powers while evading the villainous Sivana, who has become the vessel for the Seven Deadly Sins. After Sivana takes his foster siblings hostage, Billy realizes he can share his powers with them. He uses the wizard's staff to transform his siblings into adult superheroes, and together they battle the Sins and Sivana. Billy eventually accepts his foster family as his true family and discovers his siblings can also become heroes.
- First release year
- 2019
- Runtime (minutes)
- 132
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- David F. Sandberg
- Writers
- Henry Gayden · screenplay; Henry Gayden · story; Darren Lemke · story
- Cast and characters
- Zachary Levi · Billy Batson / Shazam; Mark Strong · Dr. Thaddeus Sivana; Asher Angel · Billy Batson; Jack Dylan Grazer · Freddy Freeman; Djimon Hounsou · Shazam; Faithe Herman · Darla Dudley; Grace Fulton · Mary Bromfield; Ian Chen · Eugene Choi
- Genres
- superhero; action; comedy
- Themes
- family; identity; responsibility
- Tone and mood
- humorous; zany; heartfelt
- Setting
- Fawcett City, Philadelphia, and the Rock of Eternity in the present day, with a flashback to 1974 in Upstate New York.
- Premise and plot tags
- origin story; superhero; coming-of-age
- Source material / true-story basis
- DC character Shazam
- Franchise connections
- DC Extended Universe (DCEU)
- Reception
- The film received positive reviews from critics and was a box office success.
- Reported review scores
- PostTrak · score: 79%
- Production trivia
- The film was the least expensive DCEU film to-date.; Dwayne Johnson's likeness was used for a mystical hologram of Teth-Adam.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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