Despite the star power supporting it, Warner Bros. is expected to lose close to $100 million on Black Adam. The DC Universe film starred Dwayne Johnson as the title antagonist, who explored his beginnings as a former slave in the fictitious nation of Kahndaq who was given superhuman abilities by the wizard Shazam, only to be locked away after using his skills for malicious purposes. Black Adam, which chronicles his conflict with the Justice Society of America in the present, received mostly negative reviews from critics. While viewers have enjoyed the DCU movie, it doesn’t seem to have helped the movie in the long run.
Variety has released a new analysis that examines Black Adam’s box office results, nearly two months after the movie first opened in theaters. Despite breaking Dwayne Johnson’s opening weekend records, the DCU movie is predicted to lose WB up to $100 million. According to sources, the studio spent between $80-100 million on marketing, and with a $200 million production budget, the movie needed to earn at least $600 million globally to break even. Black Adam’s theatrical run is already completed, and it has earned slightly over $384 million as of the time of writing.
Why Did Black Adam Flop
It might surprise you to learn that Black Adam is expected to lose so much money at the box office given the international appeal Johnson often brings to his films. The movie’s reviews, which presently have a 39 percent acceptance rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, are one of the main factors that seem to be holding it back. This makes it the DC Universe picture with the lowest reviews since the 2017 theatrical release of Justice League. Relying solely on the appeal of Johnson in the title role and Pierce Brosnan as Doctor Fate didn’t help matters anymore because Black Adam is also a lesser-known comic book name for anyone who are unfamiliar with DC.
The competition and timing of Black Adam’s release—just over a week before Halloween, an odd choice for a superhero movie, and just one week after Halloween Ends, a more seasonally appropriate release—were two bigger obstacles it had to overcome in its box office run. Even after avoiding the season of frights, the DC Universe movie still had to compete with Black Panther: Wakanda Forever from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This movie was well-supported because of its early critical acclaim and the fact that it served as a memorial to the late Chadwick Boseman. The MCU picture did dethrone Black Adam from the top spot at the box office during the fourth weekend of the latter, despite the fact that Johnson has been quite outspoken about his affection for both movies and denied that there is any competition between them.
Given how poorly the movie did at the box office, many people will undoubtedly start to question how Black Adam’s financial woes will impact the character’s future in the DC Universe. A $100 million loss could pose a problem for Johnson’s return, despite the fact that Johnson and his producing partner Hiram Garcia have frequently stated plans for the continuation of his character in the franchise, specifically for Black Adam to square off against Henry Cavill’s Superman. David Zaslav, the new CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery, is closely monitoring studio finances. But given that the franchise’s 10-year plan is being developed by the new DC Studios heads James Gunn and Peter Safran, and given how enthusiastically moviegoers have received the movie, it seems unlikely that Black Adam’s future is entirely sealed off.
Source: Variety