David F. Sandberg

David F. Sandberg is a Swedish-born filmmaker who began his career making shorts and non-fiction. He is now a go-to director for Hollywood studio-backed comic book material scoring big box office numbers. Sandberg began his filmmaking career at his local film center in Jönköping, Sweden, Film I Jönköping, and then made shorts and non-fiction films for the Swedish Inheritance Fund.

Moving to the Swedish city of Gothenburg in 2009, Sandberg made animated and non-fiction shorts and TV series with producer Claes Lundin. He drew Hollywood attention with a string of horror short films he released online under the pseudonym, “ponysmasher.” His short, Lights Out (2013), was adapted into Sandberg’s first feature with producer James Wan, Lights Out (2016), starring Teresa Palmer, Gabriel Bateman, Billy Burke, and Maria Bello, earned a remarkable profit with a $149 million global box-office on a $4.9 million budget.

David E. Sandberg continued his streak of hits with producer Wan the even more successful sequel, Annabelle: Creation (2017), with Stephanie Sigman, Talitha Bateman, Anthony LaPaglia, and Miranda Otto, and grossing an astounding $306.5 million on a $15 million budget. Sandberg’s next movie was another smash hit, Shazam! (2019), his first DC Comics movie and launching a new franchise starring Zachary Levi and Jack Dylan Grazer, grossing $366 million globally on estimated $80 costs. That success led to the sequel, Shazam! Fury of the Gods (2023), reunites the original cast with new members Lucy Liu and Helen Mirren.