Still images from Shazam!, a movie adapted from one of DC Comics' most popular superheroes of the 1940s, which depicts a 14-year-old who inherits a wizard's power to transform himself into a god-like adult, played by Zachary Levi.[Photo provided to China Daily]

"I was working with some really talented, amazing kids who were about 14 years old. So, I just kind of studied them to feel their energy," he says.

"And I'm actually a big kid - that's I guess how I got the job ... I love video games, sports and comic books. I hope by the time I die, which I hope is many years from now, I'm still being silly and enjoying whatever left I have of my life. So that was the biggest way (in which) I was able to tap into the kid in me because I've never really let him go."

Shazam! marks the seventh installment of the DC Extended Universe, a DC and Warner Bros Pictures franchise, which began with the 2013 film Man of Steel.

China - a movie market with an annual output reaching over 1,000 features - has screened many Hollywood superhero films, but this movie's story is less well-known locally.