In a post on screenwriter John August's blog, the Shazam scripter sent out the sad news that his efforts on Billy Batson and the Legend of Shazam are over, and that the project is for all intents and purposes "dead."
August gives an insider's peek at the maddening process of scripting for commercial entertainment. A few behind-the-scenes frustrations were the change of management brought on by the dissolution of New Line Cinema, the Writer's Guild strike, and studio anxiety over what makes a box office blockbuster.
Here's a bit from the blog:
By the time I got back [from travel to France], the project was dead. By 'dead,' I mean that it won't be happening. 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.
Yes, that sucks. And obviously, I can only share my interpretation of what transpired. There were dozens of meetings and phone calls in which I had no participation. As a reader, you should certainly consider the possibility that I wrote sh**ty scripts they simply didn't want to make. Because Warners controls copyright on them, I can't put them in the library for you to read yourself. So you have to decide whether to take my word on it.