The clash between Dwayne Johnson’s Black Adam and Ezra Miller’s The Flash is among the hottest topics currently. It seems Black Adam AKA Dwayne Johnson’s $393 million caper has finally toppled The Flash and that too by a big margin. But sadly, Johnson isn’t here to celebrate since the 51-year-old Californian actor (who took around 15 years to get Black Adam off the ground) was dropped after only one installment.
Amid the widespread friction and controversy that arose in the aftermath of Dwayne Johnson’s exit, it was reported that appointing James Gunn as the new Co-CEO of DC Studios and effectively rebooting the Snyderverse was the main reason why the 51-year-old got axed.
James Gunn revealed that his vision of stories and plans for DCU didn’t mesh well with Black Adam and the 51-year-old actor also mentioned that he had been told the same – “Black Adam will not be in their first chapter of storytelling.” It was also speculated that Dwayne Johnson might return as Black Adam but with James Gunn’s new DCU plans in full throttle, it’s increasingly uncertain. Also, The Suicide Squad director keeps on dropping previous actors from the roster to bring in new faces.
Dwayne Johnson’s Black Adam vs. DC’s The Flash, Shazam 2
Recently, The Flash ended its disastrous run at the box office which was also the case with Shazam 2, but the 57-year-old Hollywood director held a different opinion altogether. He called out The Flash as “one of the best superhero movies I’ve ever seen” and “probably the greatest superhero movie ever made”, but the audience didn’t seem to agree with that after the film’s anticipated premiere.
Going through the box office battle, even after combining the earnings of The Flash and Shazam 2, the collection hardly surpasses that of Black Adam. The latter has total earnings of $393.2 million, in comparison to The Flash’s $268.5 million and Shazam 2’s $133.8 million, which rounds up to $402 million. Moreover, despite Black Adam‘s disappointing box office collection, the actor’s immediate axing along with Henry Cavill being booted after his celebrated return made the situation more volatile.
As far as Rotten Tomatoes is concerned, Black Adam is the clear winner with an audience score of 88%. The Flash (also cost more to make than Black Adam, not to mention how the 51-year-old actor went on record multiple times to declare Black Adam a hit. Additionally, Black Adam wasn’t released in China where Dwayne Johnson’s movies are quite well-received. According to Business Insider, projected cash-in of millions more could have been possible with China’s market.
Dwayne Johnson Disses James Gunn For Scrapped Sequel
The Rock AKA Dwayne Johnson casually mentioned his frustration on not getting a Black Adam sequel on frenemy Kevin Hart’s talk show, Hart to Heart. The charismatic action hero, who brought the majestic and electrifying anti-hero live on the screen, was dropped in favor of the upcoming DCU which made him say, “When that wasn’t looked at through that lens, it makes things a little bit more challenging,“
The 51-year-old Hollywood actor did seem frustrated and revealed – “At the time, as we were creating Black Adam… it was so many changes in leadership,” but it has also been reported that both the new Co-CEO of DC Studios and the actor are on good terms and a comeback might be possible.
While James Gunn hasn’t responded to these claims, his statement regarding The Rock’s future at DC saying, “DC and Seven Bucks have agreed to continue exploring the most valuable ways Black Adam can be utilized in future DC multiverse chapters,“ suggests that the development of Black Adam has shut down temporarily, but once the 57-year-old Hollywood director gets his DCU vehicle moving, a comeback of Black Adam is most definitely possible.
Source: Variety, Hart to Heart
