The DC Films and Warner Bros. release Black Adam opened to $7.6 million on Thursday night. This is a great result for Dwayne Johnson, surpassing the $7.5 million that Fast & Furious 6 made on Thursday but falling short of the $5.8 million that Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw, $4.7 million that Jumanji: The Next Level, $3.1 million that San Andreas, and $2.4 million that Rampage made. On Thursday, Black Adam began showing in previews at over 3,500 cinemas before expanding to more than 4,400 on Friday. Despite the poor reviews, the picture is still expected to earn roughly $60 million in its opening weekend.
This is much less than the $65 million to $70 million predicted by industry experts. The picture, directed by Jaume Collet-Serra, has been in the works for almost a decade, a point that marketing guru Johnson has been emphasising in his own bold fashion across numerous platforms. In recent weeks, he has also been hinting at a future showdown between Black Adam and a far more well-known persona. Johnson portrays a slave who, after receiving the abilities of Shazam, becomes the liberator Teth-Adam in the antihero flick.
According to Johnson, the protagonist’s ambiguous morality is what distinguishes him from the rest of the pack. Both Marvel films produced this year had opening weekends that were nearly twice as profitable as their competitors. May’s Doctor Strange: The Multiverse of Madness opened to nearly $187 million and went on to earn $955 million worldwide, while July’s Thor: Love and Thunder made $143 million at its first weekend and went on to earn $760 million globally. Despite significantly better reviews and featuring one of the two most popular superheroes of all time, W.B.’s The Batman only made $134 million in its first three days. The reactions to Black Adam have been all over the map.
“Black Adam might not be the hero the DCEU needs, but it’s a refreshing adjustment for this broader world and an exhilarating glimpse at the possibility of moving ahead in this universe,” said Ross Bonaime. DC’s “10-year plan” includes the film as a central component, and it has been extensively debated. Despite hopes that the DCEU would be as successful as Marvel’s MCU, internal strife and a lack of forethought ultimately doomed the project. Although it received rave reviews from critics, last year’s The Suicide Squad bombed at the box office.
However, that movie debuted simultaneously in both theatres and the HBO Max service. The Flash, however, has had its share of problems. W.B. would want nothing more than for Johnson to apply his Midas touch to the DCEU, as the actor has done so many times before with struggling film series. Ticket to Paradise, starring George Clooney and Julia Roberts, was Universal’s effort at counter-programming this week, and it starred in making roughly $15 million domestically after making over $70 million from outside markets in a previous couple of weeks. Black Adam also features the talents of Aldis Hodge, Pierce Brosnan, Noah Centineo, and Quintessa Swindell.