It appears as though the mooted Captain Marvel movie has been derailed for the forseeable future. And I don't know whether it's a good or a bad thing.

In a real insight into the inner workings of Hollywood, John August, the screenwriter for what was being called Billy Batson and the Legend of Shazam, announced on his blog this week that after 18-months of development Warner Bros had stepped in and killed the project.

"By “dead,” I mean that it won’t be happening," August writes. "I don’t think it’s on the studio’s radar at all. It may come back in another incarnation, with another writer, but I can say with considerable certainty that it won’t be the version I developed."



The film was to be directed by Peter Segal, with one of the stars of his recently-released action-comedy Get Smart, Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson, earmarked to play the main villain Black Adam, Marvel's evil equal.

It was Segal (whose other credits include Adam Sandler vehicles The Longest Yard, 50 First Dates and Anger Management) who apparently approached August to write the script back in 2006.

August was the writing force behind Go (1998), Charlie's Angels (1999), Big Fish (2003) and Charlie and the Chocolate factory (2005) - a better track record it must be said than Segal's.

At the time of getting the screenwriting gig, August wrote on his blog, "What’s unique about the character is that in ordinary life, he’s teenager Billy Batson. (But) Speaking the name of the wizard who gave him his powers (Shazam), calls down a magic thunderbolt, transforming him into the studly superhero. But he’s still a teenager in there."

With that said, August was aiming to create Tom Hanks' "Big, but with superpowers" - which really wasn't the most exciting concept ... for anyone over the age of 14 anyway.

August recalled this week on his blog, "I would describe this draft as a comedy with a lot of action. It mostly centers on Billy Batson getting and learning how to use his powers", which brings thoughts of a cross between Harry Potter and Spider-Man.



Everything looked on track for a 2009 shoot start until two things happened - the script went from New Line Cinema and into the hands of it's 'big brother' Warner Bros., and a little film called The Dark Knight was released.

August writes, "When we turned the new draft in to the studio, we got a reaction that made me wonder if anyone at Warners had actually read previous drafts or the associated notes. The studio felt the movie played too young. They wanted edgier. They wanted Billy to be older.

"I expressed my frustration that I’d wasted months of my time and a considerable amount of the studio’s money on things that should have been discussed at the outset."

August used the example of Ironman as a new superhero movie that succeeded without walking the The Dark Knight path. But, still he went back to the drawing board, creating what sounded like a much more action-packed - and welcome - offering.

He writes, "I was under contract to deliver one more draft. So I took them at their (written) word and delivered what they said they wanted: a much harder movie, with a lot more Black Adam.

"This wasn’t “Big, with super powers” anymore. It was Black Adam versus Captain Marvel, with a considerable push into dark territory and liminal badlands like Nanda Parbat.

"It wasn’t the action-comedy I’d signed on to write, but it was a movie I could envision getting made."

It wasn't to be however, Warner Bros. knocking it on its head once and for all.

August writes, "The larger point of this retelling is to help readers understand that at every level in a screenwriter’s career, there are projects that simply don’t happen, mostly for reasons you couldn’t anticipate at the outset."

Interestingly, August has also seen his scripts for remakes, Barbarella and Tarzan tossed out by studios.

Personally, without knowing a huge amount about the DC Comics veteran Captain Marvel, other than he was pretty bad-ass in graphic novel Kingdom Come when he fights Superman, I would still like to see him on the big screen at some stage in the future. Remember, this is a guy that is just as powerful as the Man of Steel himself.

Preferably though in a no-holds-barred action extravaganza - that we should've seen with Superman Returns - and Warner Bros. presumably wanted before canning it.