David F. Sandberg has announced that shooting has begun on the 'Shazam!' movie.

David F. Sandberg (c) Instagram

David F. Sandberg (c) Instagram

The 37-year-old director is helming the new DC Extended Universe movie and logged on to Instagram to tell fans that production is underway.

Uploading a photo of a clapper board, Sandberg wrote on the image sharing site: "Let's go! (sic)"

Although not much is known about the plot of the movie, Asher Angel has been cast to play Billy Baston alongside Zachary Levi, who will portray Billy's adult superhero alter ego Captain Marvel.

Other cast members include Jack Dylan Grazer, who will play Billy's best friend Freddy, and Grace Fulton as another teenager in the upcoming adventure which has been penned by Henry Gayden and Darren Lemke.

Mark Strong recently teased the plot of 'Shazam!' and revealed he is playing villain Doctor Sivana, who he described as an "evil bastard".

He spilled: "I'm playing an evil bastard called Doctor Sivana, they are always the best characters to play, the most fun.

"I was Sinestro in 'Green Lantern' which I though was a rather good film but it didn't do what they wanted so I feel like I've got unfinished business in the DC world, I played a pretty evil character in that and he was meant to get even worse in the second one but that never happened but I think I'm going to get the chance to do that in 'Shazam!', I hope so."

Captain Marvel was created by C.C. Beck and writer Bill Parker back in 1939 and first appeared in Whiz Comics #2 a year later.

'Shazam!' will focus on Billy, a boy who can transform into an adult superhero by uttering the magic word "Shazam".

The word is an acronym of the ancient world gods and historical figures: Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles and Mercury.