‘Black Adam’ Goes No. 1 at the Box Office

DC’s “Black Adam” finished in first place at the domestic box office and has performed well in worldwide markets. It is another example of a film being successful despite poor ratings from critics.

“Black Adam” premiered on October 3 in Mexico City and was released in the U.S. on October 21. It is directed by Jaume Collet-Serra and stars Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as the film’s main character anti-hero. Others in the cast include Aldis Hodge, Noah Centineo, Sarah Shahi, Marwan Kenzari, and Pierce Brosnan. The release of “Black Adam” was delayed by a year like many movies with planned release dates during the pandemic.

The New Big Bad in the DC Universe

The film’s $140 million worldwide total includes $67 million in its U.S debut, $5 million more than it was projected to make this past weekend. It also brought in $73 million international. One industry expert thinks this is a strong outcome for a spinoff, believing the movie will  “do well abroad and be comfortably profitable.” It performed similarly to other DC films like “Aquaman” (2018) in its first week and debuted higher than “Shazam!” (2019). The movie is not expected to reach a billion dollars like other superhero movies have managed to do. Still, it will take some time for the movie to make back its budget.

This would be the sixth time Warner Bros. had a no. 1 movie this year. The studio released “The Batman,” “Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore,” “Elvis,” “DC League of Super-Pets” and “Don’t Worry Darling.” All premiered at the top of the U.S. box office. Movie theaters also caught a break after the pandemic brought a shortage of big movie releases. “Black Adam” is the first film to make more than $50 million and make $100 million overall in its opening weekend. The closest competition to “Black Adam” is Universal studio’s “Ticket to Paradise,” which landed at the no. 2 spot with $16.3 million and $96.6 million globally. The movie is Johnson’s largest domestic debut in a leading role as well. It is only bested by movies where he had a supporting role like “The Mummy Returns” and the “Fast and Furious” series.

The Usual Divide Between the Audience and Critics

Like some other superhero films, critics and audiences have received “Black Adam” very differently. The film got a 39 percent critic score on Rotten Tomatoes versus 90 percent from audiences. Entertainment site IGN found it hard to watch after a while and had too much going on to focus on the film’s message.

It overindulges to the point where it’s hard to enjoy the DC anti-hero’s debut. It’s packed with undeveloped characters and an excessive number of repetitive action scenes, to the point where its half-baked debate on what it means to be a hero is lost in all the noise.

Looking over the negative critic response, Johnson expressed gratitude that fans were enjoying the film. “Black Adam” now has the highest audience score for a DC film since the “Dark Knight” trilogy. The actor took to Twitter to celebrate the accomplishment.

https://twitter.com/TheRock/status/1584558470446993408?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1584558470446993408%7Ctwgr%5Ec0718a1427461ed81cad5aff086ce96dceee3971%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fvariety.com%2F2022%2Ffilm%2Fnews%2Fdwayne-johnson-black-adam-audience-score-making-fans-happy-1235412504%2F

Good Signs for the Film Industry

Unfortunately for theaters, there are only three more big releases after “Black Adam” till the end of the year. Marvel’s “Black Panther” sequel “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” will be arriving on November 11. Then a new Disney animated film titled “Strange World” comes out two weeks later on November 23. Then on Dec. 16, the long-awaited “Avatar” sequel titled “Avatar: The Way of Water” will finally release. However, one good sign is the large share of ticket sales that came from premium formats. Warner Bros. reported that 33 percent of U.S. ticket sales came from large format screens like IMAX and Dolby Cinema. While the output is low, theater owners are banking on the hype of big films like “Black Adam” to pull people back into cinemas.

Written by Chiagozie Onyewuchi

Sources:

Variety: Box Office: ‘Black Adam’ Debuts at No. 1 With $67 Million, ‘Ticket to Paradise’ Scores $16 Million; by Rebecca Rubin
CNBC: ‘Black Adam’ tallies $67 million in domestic debut, first film opening since July to top $50 million; by Sarah Whitten
IGN: Black Adam Challenges the ‘Hierarchy of Power’ With a $140 Million Global Weekend Box Office Victory; by Adam Bankhurst
Variety: Dwayne Johnson Champions ‘Black Adam’ 90% Audience Score: Making Fans Happy Is the ‘Only Thing That Matters’; by Zack Sharf

Featured and Top Image Courtesy of Gala Medina’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
Inset Image Courtesy of David Shankbone’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License