Shazam! [2019] (1 disc)

Random Trivia For This Title:

• Superman's cameo at the end was always planned to happen, and Henry Cavill actually wanted to reprise his role as Superman for the scene. However, the school location was only available for filming for a brief period when Cavill was working on other projects, so they settled for a stand-in who was filmed from the neck down while wearing the costume. Director David F. Sandberg later stated that the scene worked out much funnier this way.
• ^[?] Micky Dolenz was considered to play Uncle Dudley.
• This movie underwent a series of rewrites that included scripts written by writers such as William Goldman, ^[?] Bryan Goluboff, Joel Cohen and Alec Sokolow, John August, Darren Lemke, ^[?] Bill Birch and Geoff Johns.
• Alan Alda, F. Murray Abraham, Michael Keaton and Tony Shalhoub were being considered to play the wizard Shazam.
• Peter Segal was attached to direct in the mid/late 2000s.
• Jim Belushi was under consideration for Mr. Tawny.
• ^[?] Virginia Gardner, ^[?] Hunter King, and ^[?] Tori Anderson were candidates to play Beautia Sivana; the character does not appear in the final film.
• Lotta Losten, who plays Dr. Lynn Crosby, is married to director David F. Sandberg in real life.
• Sam Raimi had expressed interest in directing the film.
• Dwayne Johnson wanted Armie Hammer to play Shazam.
• Zachary Levi packed on 20 pounds of muscle for the film, putting his weight at 220 pounds. In an interview with Michael Rosenbaum, Rosenbaum guessed Levi's weight at 215 pounds, but Levi proudly and quickly corrected saying that his weight was 220 pounds.
• Jake McDorman, ^[?] Parker Young, ^[?] Joshua Sasse, ^[?] Derek Theler, and John Cena were the front runners for Shazam before the part went to Zachary Levi.
• The filmmakers cite the teen fantasies Big (1988) and [Stranger Things (2016)] as an influence on the film.
• After it was announced at a Comic-Con that Brie Larson was cast for Captain Marvel (2019), CNN ran the headline "Shazam! Brie Larson is Captain Marvel", confusing DC's superhero with Marvel's superhero.
• Djimon Hounsou has appeared in four comic book films, two in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and two in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU). He has also played three separate characters. In the MCU, he portrayed Korath in Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) and Captain Marvel (2019) and in DC he appeared as Fisherman King in Aquaman (2018), and as the wizard Shazam in Shazam! Three of those movies premiered within only a four month span.
• The security officer who monitors the hallways of Billy and Freddy's school is named Moran. The Moran name is a reference to the comic book character Michael Moran, aka "Marvelman" (later known as "Miracleman"). This was a comic book character heavily inspired by Captain Marvel; he transformed into a superhero by saying a special word ("kimota", which is Atomic pronounced backwards) and got his powers from atomic energy rather than magic.
• Fawcett Central High School is named after Fawcett Comics, the company that originally created the Captain Marvel character in 1939.
• John Glover, who plays Thaddeus Sivana's father, has a history in the DC universe as the voice of The Riddler in [Batman: The Animated Series (1992)], Dr. Jason Woodrue in Batman & Robin (1997), and as Lionel Luthor in [Smallville (2001)].
• Shazam! (originally known as Captain Marvel) was the subject of Hollywood's first ever superhero film adaptation: Republic Pictures' Adventures of Captain Marvel (1941) in 1941. The first Shazam! film adaptation since that time.
• One of Freddy's names for super-powered Billy is "Captain Sparklefingers". Marvel Comics' Captain Marvel (Carol Danvers) has the nickname "Captain Sparklefists."
• Dwayne Johnson once asked his fans on which character he should play, superhero Shazam or supervillain Black Adam. His fans chose Black Adam.
• Mark Strong has been openly enthusiastic about playing Sivana, describing him as an "evil bastard" and saying how those roles are always fun to play.
• The green caterpillar talking to Dr. Sivana in jail is Mr. Mind, one of Shazam's greatest enemies who leads The Monster Society of Evil, a supervillain team whose membership in its various incarnations has included Dr. Sivana and Black Adam among others.
• Shazam is an acronym formed from the names of the gods or beings that grant powers: (Solomon - Wisdom. Hercules - Strength. Atlas - Stamina. Zeus - Power. Achilles - Courage. Mercury - Speed). Of the six Gods forming Shazam's name, only two are actually Gods - Zeus (Greek) and Mercury (Roman). Solomon is a mortal King from the Bible, Hercules and Achilles were demi-gods, having one mortal parent and Atlas was actually a Titan.
• Near the abandoned warehouse where Freddy trains Billy and records his powers, a factory with the sign "Ace Chemicals" is in the background. That's the factory where the Joker was born. (Batman (1989) renamed the factory Axis Chemicals.)
• During the fight in the toy store, Shazam runs across a giant keyboard. This references the film Big (1988) which, like this one, features a boy turning into an adult overnight.