Once upon a time, years before he joined the Fast & Furious franchise as Luke Hobbs, WWE superstar-turned-actor Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson was approached about playing Black Adam in a Shazam movie. By 2014, Johnson was confirmed to be playing the DC Extended Universe incarnation of the character, and seven years later, the Black Adam movie finally began shooting in the spring. Following Johnson finishing his work on Black Adam a few weeks back, producer Dany Garcia has provided an update on how the upcoming DCEU movie is coming along.
While it initially seemed as though Dwayne Johnson wrapping his time on Black Adam meant that principal photography as a whole was complete, that’s not the case. Here’s what Dany Garcia told Variety at the premiere for Johnson’s latest movie, Jungle Cruise:
We haven’t wrapped yet, so we still have a few more weeks. [Dwayne] wrapped, so that’s kind of a wrap. Black Adam wrapped. But we’ve got a lot of really good things going on that, actually, will continue in LA.
Dwayne Johnson shooting all his scenes for Black Adam certainly is a big deal, but now we know there’s still a little ways to go before production is officially completed. Black Adam began principal photography on April 9 in Atlanta, Georgia, having been delayed from its original July 2020 start date due to the pandemic. The shoot has since moved to Los Angeles, and while a specific wrap date hasn’t been revealed, it sounds like things will be done on that front sometime in August.
Of course, just because Dwayne Johnson’s done with the Black Adam shoot doesn’t necessarily mean he’s done suiting up as the character for this project. Blockbuster pictures, especially superhero movies, often allot time for reshoots, whether it’s simply to capture some extra footage to polish off the final product, or to overhaul certain aspects of the story. Since Black Adam isn’t set to come out for another year, there’s plenty of time for Johnson and other members of the cast and crew to reunite for more filming (assuming that’s in the cards), whether it’s towards the end of this year or sometime in early 2022.
Originally the plan for the DCEU’s Black Adam was for him to serve as the main antagonist in the Shazam! movie, but by early 2017, it was decided that the character should get his own movie. So Zachary Levi’s Shazam instead faced off against Dr. Thaddeus Sivana for his first solo movie, and there’s still no word on when the World’s Mightiest Mortal and the man once known as Teth-Adam will clash on the big screen. Like Billy Batson, Teth-Adam gained his incredible powers from the Wizard Shazam, which was referenced in 2019’s Shazam!.
But Black Adam won’t entirely be set in the days of ancient Kahndaq. Following 5,000 years, Dwayne Johnson’s version of the character will awaken in the present day and start dishing out his brutal form of justice. This will bring him into conflict with the Justice Society of America, which consists of Aldis Hodge’s Hawkman, Noah Centineo’s Atom Smasher, Quintessa Swindell’s Cyclone and Pierce Brosnan’s Doctor Fate. Black Adam’s cast also includes Sarah Shahi as Adrianna Tomaz, as well as Marwan Kenzari, James Cusati-Moyer, Bodhi Sabongui, Mo Amer, and Uli Latukefu in undisclosed roles. The criminal organization Intergang will also factor into the plot.
Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra (who worked with Dwayne Johnson on Jungle Cruise) and written by Adam Sztykiel and Rory Haines & Sohrab Noshirvani, Black Adam will arrive in theaters on July 29, 2022. Don’t forget to stick with CinemaBlend for news concerning other upcoming DC Comics movies.
