Although Ben Affleck has held down the Batman mantle in the DC Extended Universe mantle since 2016, until this past weekend, DC Comics’ Caped Crusader hadn’t led a live-action solo movie since 2012’s The Dark Knight Rises. But now the Robert Pattinson-led The Batman is here and it’s gotten off to a great start at the box office, making $128.5 million domestically over its first days of availability to the public. Now Black Adam star Dwayne Johnson has commended The Batman on its successful first weekend.
The Batman and Black Adam aren’t set in the same universe, but that doesn’t prevent Dwayne Johnson from praising a fellow DC movie. Here’s what he had to say on Twitter about The Batman’s outstanding theatrical launch:
Love seeing #TheBatmanMovie do this kind of spectacular box office business. Excellent uptick trend for our movie industry, our WB/DC partners and most importantly, A BIG HAPPY AUDIENCE Congrats to the cast + crew! I know how hard you’ve all worked
Given Batman’s decades of popularity and how warmly the trailers for Matt Reeves’ new movie were received by many people, it stood to reason The Batman wouldn’t flounder commercially right out the gate. Granted, it didn’t open as big as Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice or the latter two movies in Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy, but crossing over the $100 million mark in its first weekend is still impressive, especially during the pandemic era. The Batman is one of only eight movies to achieve such an honor while COVID-19 has been a concern, the others being F9, Black Widow, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, Eternals, No Time to Die and Spider-Man: No Way Home.
The Batman still has a long way to go before it’s deemed fully profitable, but between its continued domestic run and how much it’ll make internationally, it’s to good bet it’ll ultimately become a commercial success. Either way, it’s good to see Dwayne Johnson throwing compliments The Batman’s way, especially since he has two upcoming DC movies. Along with playing Black Adam’s eponymous protagonist, Johnson is also voicing Krypto the Superdog in the animated DC League of Super-Pets.
Dwayne Johnson has been attached to play Black Adam in one form or another longer than the DCEU has existed, and now the antihero’s time to shine in a theatrical setting is only months away. However, instead of facing off against Shazam in his first solo movie, Johnson’s character will instead collide with the Justice Society of America, comprised of Aldis Hodge’s Hawkman, Noah Centineo’s Atom Smasher, Quintessa Swindell’s Cyclone and Pierce Brosnan’s Doctor Fate. The eleventh DCEU movie comes out on July 29.
As for The Batman, it’ll become available to those with an HBO Max subscription on April 19, and that same streaming service will be home to spinoff shows centered on The Penguin and Arkham State Hospital, with the latter originally intended to be about the Gotham City Police Department. Until then, be sure to read CinemaBlend’s review of The Batman and our other articles about 2022’s first superhero movie.
