Dwayne Johnson's 'Shazam' will release before 2019

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson has confirmed that the DC Comics adaptation "Shazam" will come earlier than was expected. The actor will play Black Adam, one of the villains in the movie.

"No, I don't think it is going to be that far away. It's going to be earlier than that. I don't think 2019," the 43-year-old said when asked about the release date of "Shazam".

Back in October 2014, Warner Bros set the movie to be released on April 5, 2019. But it's not really surprising if the release date will be changed because Johnson had already teased about it in an interview at the 87th Academy Awards in February.

"You know, it may happen a little earlier than what has been predicted. The script is coming in, it's great. The support from the studio has been great.

"And it is just a great opportunity especially with Black Adam where you can take a guy that starts off as bad guy turns into an anti-hero. We can make him vicious; a little bit of winking charm," he said.

Produced by Johnson, Hiram Garcia, Michael Uslan, Peter Segal and Michael Ewing, "Shazam" centres on young Billy Batson who finds himself gifted with the power of the wizard Shazam to fight against the forces of evil. No director has been tapped for the movie yet.