Group dressed as members of the “Shazam Family” at the New York Comic Con, October 8. Credit: Javier E. David
All eyes are on “Black Adam,” the DC Comics-inspired vehicle starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as the titular antihero, which officially opens in theaters today.
Why it matters: The stakes couldn’t be higher for Warner/Discovery, which has alienated legions of DC fans by canceling and postponing several high-profile projects. Observers are watching to see if Johnson's star power can revive the fortunes of Warner/Discovery's embattled DC franchises.
- “Black Adam” is expected to be the media giant’s last big theatrical release of the year, before it turns the page on a rocky 2022.
- The movie is a test of Warner’s ability to draw in die-hard DC boosters, and the uninitiated that know nothing about the character.
- It will open exclusively in theaters, with no official streaming date announced.
The intrigue: Current projections expect the movie to pull in something north of $60 million this weekend, Deadline reported, but that’s below other major tentpoles.
- Although Thursday night previews saw “Black Adam” pull in a solid $7.6 million, the movie will need to be “critic-proof.”
- Over at Rotten Tomatoes, a split is brewing between hard-nosed critics (a weak 43% approval rating based on over 150 reviews), and fans who give it a far more generous 88% “Fresh” rating).
What they’re saying: Some of the more unforgiving reviewers use words like “humdrum,” “clumsy,” and “brainless” (ouch). Still, the comparatively higher audience scores may yet give “Black Adam” an unexpected box office boost.
- Yet The Bulwark’s Sonny Bunch (known as a contrarian voice among movie aficionados), wrote on Friday that he “quite enjoyed [“Black Adam’s”] very specific brand of sadism.” So there’s that.