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WIRE Buzz: Shazam! sequel set for spring 2022, Rabbids movie hopping to theaters, more

By Josh Weiss
Showing off superhero lightning powers in Shazam

Billy Batson and the rest of the Marvel Family are officially coming back for another DC adventure in a second Shazam! movie. Warner Bros.' comic book sequel is confirmed to hit theaters on April Fool's Day 2022, SYFY WIRE has confirmed.

At this time, it's unclear whether David F. Sandberg will return as director, but odds are good, as the first movie charmed audiences and brought in more than $360 million at the global box office. Critics were also smitten with the Big-meets-Superman flick, which currently holds a 90% rating on Rotten Tomatoes

Shazam and Freddy squabble (Credit: Warner Bros)

In April of this year, it was reported that WB had re-hired Henry Gayden (screenwriter on the first film) to start writing a script for a possible follow-up. Now that the project is allowed to go full steam ahead, you can probably expect Asher Angel and Zachary Levi to confirm their returns as Billy Batson and Shazam very soon.

Shazam! 2 will open a little less than four months after Dwayne Johnson's Black Adam movie, which means Teth-Adam (a classic foil for Batson) will probably factor into the sequel in some way, shape, or form. Given the mid-credits scene in the first Shazam! film, it's probably safe to assume that Mr. Mind is going to be the main antagonist.


Per Deadline, Lionsgate has scooped up the big-screen rights to Ubisoft's Rabbids video game series. The studio is reportedly planning a hybrid film adaptation that incorporates both live-action and animated elements.

Todd Strauss-Schulson (Isn't It Romantic) is reportedly in early talks to helm the project, which is being produced by Todd Lieberman and David Hoberman — the duo behind 2017's Beauty and the Beast remake and Wonder.

Previously developed by Sony, the movie is getting a new draft of its screenplay by Matt Senreich, Tom Sheppard, and Zeb Wells. Todd Rosenberg is said to have revised a previous version.

Rabbids

The Rabbids are wide-mouthed, noseless bunny rabbits who first popped up in the Rayman games.

Much like the Minions of the Despicable Me franchise, the crazed, gibberish-speaking creatures were so popular that they were able to spin off on their own. Their video games have sold millions of units, and the characters have even crossed paths with Nintendo's Super Mario.


Brian Yorkey, the playwright known for adapting 13 Reasons Why, is reportedly working on a new Netflix TV show based on another YA novel. Deadline writes that Yorkey is currently developing a series drawn from Neal Shusterman's Game Changer, which will be published by HarperCollins’ Harper Teen label next September.

Since the book is still a ways away, we don't know much about its plot, although Deadline describes it as a "present-day teen Quantum Leap."

Neal Shusterman and Brian Yorkey

Yorkey and Shusterman will be writing the scripts together, while Yorkey takes up the post of showrunner.