@KillingMeDeftly
The film Shazam starring the actor Sinbad where he played a genie. I can picture him in his costume even now. But nope, never happened!
This is the one I was coming to post about! I find it both fascinating and disturbing how many Americans STILL refuse to accept that the film doesn’t exist - despite Sinbad himself making it clear.
The good news for you, @KillingMeDeftly, is that you haven’t imagined Sinbad in the genie costume. He made a series of commercials where he played a genie. His theory is that people remember the film ‘Kazaam’ (mentioned by another poster here), plus these commercials, and have conflated the two in their minds. It’s not that hard to see it happening - the film is relatively obscure, so if someone says to a friend ‘Do you remember that film with the genie…Shazam, was it?’, the friend might think ‘Oh yeah, I think so’ - and because they only remembered it vaguely, ‘Shazam’ becomes the established, accurate title in their mind.
But what fascinates me is how many people refuse to believe Sinbad. I can see why you’d argue the toss with some random nobody on an Internet forum, but with the actor you say was in the film?! People have even tried to suggest he’s had the film oppressed somehow!
I tried to tell someone once how ridiculous that is and their reply was ‘The rich and powerful can make ANYTHING disappear’. I suggested that, given that Sinbad famously got hit by a $2m tax demand and hasn’t been on telly in 25 years, he probably a) isn’t that rich and b) should have made the tax bill disappear if he’s that powerful 