Despite a few quibbles with its underlying metaphors, David F. Sandberg’s nyctophobic horror debut Lights Out was a hit at the box office. Now, Sandberg might be getting bumped up to the Hollywood superhero big leagues, with Variety reporting that he’s being eyed to direct New Line’s Shazam! movie. Based on the D.C.Comics version of Captain Marvel—i.e., the guy in the big red suit who gets his powers by summoning up the wisdom of Solomon and getting hit by lightning—the film currently has Dwayne Johnson attached to play its villain, Black Adam. (Johnson will also reprise the role for a Black Adam standalone film.) There’s no word yet on who’ll play Marvel himself, or his young alter-ego, Billy Batson.
New Line has been cultivating Sandberg for a while now; besides Lights Out, he was also tapped to helm the Conjuring spin-off sequel Annabelle 2, which is scheduled to come out later this year.