Warner Bros. has found its director for Shazam!, and they didn’t have to look too far. According to a new report, Annabelle: Creation director David F. Sandberg will be the one to helm the movie, which appears to be set to begin production either in January or February of next year.

But that isn’t the only announcement surrounding the film. More on the story below.

The Hollywood Reporter says that Shazam! will be the next DCEU film to head into production. James Wan is in the midst of shooting Aquaman as we speak, and we’ll likely get to see some footage from the film out of San Diego Comic-Con tomorrow. And WB still has a number of DCEU films that have yet to hit production or get release dates. The Flash, Green Lantern Corps, Suicide Squad 2, Gotham City Sirens, Cyborg, and Justice League 2 are among those films.

But given how much Wonder Woman was a hit, it’s very possible that WB could feel more confident to confirm more titles or announce more release dates. We’ll just have to keep you posted if any of that happens tomorrow.

Peter Safran, who produced Annabelle with Sandberg as well as Aquaman with Wan, will produce Shazam!

For those who may not know, Shazam (or Captain Marvel to some in the DC world) centers on a young boy named Billy Batson who has the ability to become the nearly indestructible god-like hero by speaking the magic word: SHAZAM (an acronym for “immortal elders”: Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles, and Mercury).

No one is attached to play either Billy Batson or Shazam, and I suspect that they are looking for two actors with at least similar personalities. One actor we know won’t be appearing is Dwayne Johnson, who is currently tapped to play Black Adam in his own movie and was once reported to be appearing in Shazam! DC chief creative officer Geoff Johns told Yahoo! Movies “We haven’t announced any casting yet. But Dwayne isn’t going to be in this movie. He’s still doing Black Adam, but he won’t be in Shazam!”

No word yet on when Shazam! will hit theaters, but sources tell THR it will likely be sometime in 2019.

[Source: THR]