Published at: April 13, 2006, 1:29 a.m. CST by staff
Ahoy, squirts! Quint here. Looks like comedy director Peter Segal (ANGER MANAGEMENT, 50 FIRST DATES, TOMMY BOY) has landed his own superhero flick at New Line. I always figured SHAZAM! as a sub-Superman comic when I was real young, but when I actually picked up a few books I couldn't help be drawn into the idea of a young kid able to wield the power and smarts of a true blue superhero with the utterance of a single word.
Shazam is the word that young Billy Batson says to become the superhero Captain Marvel. Captain Marvel, despite the name, is a DC character not to be confused with Marvel's Captain Marvels (my favorite being the female Captain Marvel from the '80s with that awesome afro-like hairstyle).
Shazam! has been made into movie serials and is often mistaken for that shitty Shaq movie from the mid-'90s. I really hope that Segal and the studio go for a more serious approach to the material. I know the idea of a kid with the ability to turn into an adult superhero at any time is ripe for comedy, but even if they don't take themselves too seriously, I hope they at least respect the material.
