Lost in the recent hype about superhero movies — largely because it, like Justice League and a handful of other projects, was nearly derailed by the ongoing writer's strike — was the projected Captain Marvel project slated to be directed by Peter Segal.
The project (which would feature the Fawcett/DC character Captain Marvel — sometimes known as "Shazam" — and not the cosmic Marvel Comics character of the same name) has a decent amount of potential; the character is one of the few family-friendly superheroes in modern comics, and the movie might have the sort of crossover kid appeal that's rarely seen in costumed crimefighter movies these days. Segal's record as a director is pretty spotty, but whether or not the movie will actually happen — and Segal, based on a recent interview with SciFi Wire, seems to think that it will despite long delays to production — may depend on the box office success of his next big feature, the Get Smart adaptation.
However, all is not rosy; even if the movie makes it to the big screen, it's newly been sidled with an absolutely terrible new title. Gone is the short, punchy Shazam!, replaced by the clumsy, hokey, awkward Billy Batson and the Legend of Shazam, a title guaranteed to appeal to no one and the most hamhanded repackaging since The Destroyer became Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins.