How can a movie make $400 million, and still be a box office bomb?
According to Dwayne Johnson, it can't be.
This is the Black Adam box office controversy explained.
The year was 2007.
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's Hollywood career was only beginning to gain traction, and superhero-centric
movies were far from the surefire cinematic moneymakers they'd soon become.
Nevertheless, it was announced that the longtime WWE sensation would star in a big-screen comic
book adaptation focused on Shazam — but he wouldn't portray the tenured print hero.
Rather, he'd take on the role of his greatest enemy, Teth-Adam, better known as Black Adam.
"There's no one on this planet that can stop me."
Around 15 years after he first signed on for the role, Johnson finally got to play "The
Man in Black" in 2022.
So was it the change in the hierarchy of power in the DC Universe that Johnson promised?
Well, critics didn't much care for Black Adam, but general audiences seem to have been happy
enough with the movie.
However, things aren't looking too great at the box office.
The film is hovering around the $400 million mark worldwide, and according to some controversial
reports, that makes the movie a box office bomb.
You're probably wondering how could the film be a bomb with a wide world gross as impressive
as that.
As some outlets are alleging, it all comes down to the movie's budget.
As laid out by Variety, Black Adam cost around $195 million to produce, but the costs don't
stop there.
You also have to account for the film's marketing budget, which most agree sits somewhere between
$80 and $100 million.
On the high end, that's in the neighborhood of $300 million — but we're still not done.
After all, it costs money to get a film like Black Adam in theaters — around half of
the cash accumulated due to ticket sales.
According to a bombshell report by Variety, Black Adam will have to make around $600 million
globally in order to break even.
That's taking into account the film's budget, its marketing push, and movie theaters' share
of the profits.
According to Variety's financial sources, at the rate the film is going, it will be
lucky to get out of the $400 million territory.
That means Black Adam is on track to lose millions.
After that report was made public, sources close to Warner Bros. indicated to /Film that
Variety's initial report is inaccurate, and that the break-even point for "Black Adam"
is $425 million, not $600 million – so the movie still stands a chance of breaking even
when the final numbers roll in.
That was corroborated with a report by Deadline, whose film finance sources called the claims
of 'Black Adam's failure 'simply not true.'
According to Deadline, the film is on track to profit somewhere between $52 and $72 million.
Dwayne Johnson, Black Adam himself, also weighed in on the controversy, trumpeting Black Adam's
success and comparing the movie's grosses to the first 'Captain America' movie, which
netted $370 million globally in 2011.
One question remains, though: What went wrong to make 'Black Adam's' success so debatable?
Black Adam was released on October 21st, 2022, and over the course of that weekend, it did
pretty well for itself.
Globally, it took in just under $143 million, a much better performance than the opening
weekend of Shazam!
back in late March 2019.
As the weeks went on, however, the movie progressively took in less and less — a phenomenon hardly
uncommon in the film world.
However, things went from bad to worse for Black Adam during the week of November 11th,
since it had no choice but to compete against a juggernaut in the comic book movie world:
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
"Wakanda Forever!"
Director Ryan Coogler's latest foray into the Marvel Cinematic Universe came out swinging
during its opening weekend.
The long-awaited sequel to 2018's Black Panther made a staggering $330 million in its opening
weekend, pushing Black Adam into the second highest-earner spot after weeks at number one.
Dwayne Johnson himself even acknowledged the box office defeat, congratulating the Wakanda
Forever team on Twitter as well as Instagram and admitting that the Marvel Studios sequel
gave Black Adam a run for its money at the box office.
That wasn't the end of Black Adam's woes, though.
After all, it's no secret that, after years on the entertainment scene, the MCU is a slick,
well-oiled machine.
The films and television shows fit together nicely, the actors stick around, and there's
a consistent vision behind the entire franchise.
Thus, when it comes to characters, heavy hitters and niche favorites alike stand a chance to
lead successful projects.
On the other hand, DC films have faced a perpetual identity crisis for years, with the slate
full of new entries into the already-struggling DC Extended Universe, standalone experiments,
and franchise starters.
Suffice to say, it's a bit of a jumbled mess.
Thankfully, James Gunn and Peter Safran are now at the helm of DC Studios: a Warner Bros.
Discovery subdivision designed to keep DC productions on the right track.
But it'll take some time for this initiative to really kick into high gear.
For years, fans have been jerked around with recasts, retries, story inconsistencies, and
more, which have made it difficult to go out and enjoy most DC movies.
It'll take time to rebuild goodwill among fans.
But even amid the financial controversy and relatively lukewarm reviews, "Black Adam"
inching into the black at the box office would be a solid enough first step.