In the many years leading up to Black Adam Dwayne Johnson sold the movie hard, promising that it would change the balance of power in the DC universe. The movie made waves when it revealed the return of Henry Cavill in the role of Superman, but the future of the franchise may now be in question, because Black Adam has not been the success the film wanted to be.
Black Adam was the number one movie in the country for three consecutive weekends, but it turns out that was something of a dubious honor, as the movie has made less that $400 million worldwide. That might not be that based on its own, but it’s believed the film cost almost $200 million to produce, with an additional $80 million spent on marketing, down from the $100 million that was planned, due to the Covid-influenced box office.
Variety reports that Black Adam needed to make about $600 million simply to break even, due to the fact that theaters get to keep a significant chuck of ticket sales, and with the film coming up short with about $387 million, Black Adam is going to ultimately be a money loser. The film will make some money on Digital and Blu-ray sales, as well as TV licensing, but those numbers aren’t expected to get the movie into the black.
This certainly throws into question what we thought was a sure thing, just what does the future hold for Black Adam in the DCEU. The movie gave us a set up for a sequel, and perhaps even more, but who knows now if any of that will move forward.
How Black Adam Set Up A Sequel
The biggest news coming out of Black Adam had little to do with Black Adam, it was all about Superman. The film’s mid-credits scene showed Viola Davis’ Amanda Waller reaching out to Black Adam to warn him not to cause too much trouble. She promised that if he did, she would find somebody who would be able to stop him, at which point Henry Cavill appeared and Superman introduced himself to Black Adam.
Everything that Dwayne Johnson said before and after the release of Black Adam implied that we will see Black Adam going up against Superman. On top of that, there’s the expected battle between Black Adam and Shazam that many have sort of figured had been in the cards since those two characters have been arch enemies in the comics.
On paper, having the biggest movie star in the world playing a comic book anti-hero likely seemed like an easy box office win, but now it seems that’s not the case. And with so many other big changes happening at Warner Bros, and specifically at DC, it will be interesting to see where the movies decide to go from here. Will they include Black Adam, or will they simply move on?
