Dwayne Johnson and action films go hand in hand. From Rampage to the recently released Black Adam, his movies bring unadulterated action to audiences in a way that gives tough competition to Tom Cruise’s movies. Even though he often gets appreciated for his projects, there was one film that didn’t bring him the laurels and prospects he wanted- Black Adam.
Released in 2022, the film brought back Henry Cavill as Superman after a long time and there were rumors that it would lead into Man of Steel 2 and other spin-offs about the JSA members shown in the movie. Nothing of that sort happened as James Gunn rebooted the DC universe. However, after The Flash flopped, fans found a newfound respect for Johnson and his Adam.
The Shocking Box Office Disaster That is DC’s The Flash
2023 has a jam-packed summer in terms of films. From Across the Spider-Verse to The Little Mermaid and Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, the tentpole films just keep on coming. Next up are Barbie, Oppenheimer, Mission Impossible 7, and more. Most of the first batch of films have made respectable amounts of money.
Miles Morales and his Spider crew took home about $645 million, while the mermaid swam off with $544 million. The Transforming cars too have driven off with $409 million till now. The only film that fell face first was The Flash. It failed to even cross $300 million worldwide and till now has earned only $262 million.
The results are shocking because of the massive social media interest that was there in the film. It seemed like everyone who was someone gave glowing reviews of the movie. From superstar Tom Cruise to social media influencers, it seemed like people couldn’t stop raving about how good it was. None of that helped and the film continued the long line of DC flops, grossing even lower than Dwayne Johnson’s Black Adam.
Fans Have A Newfound Respect For Dwayne Johnson’s Black Adam
Dwayne Johnson’s Black Adam grossed only $391 million and was a flop as well because of its huge $200 million budget. As a result, none of The Rock’s plans moved forward. In fact, he was pretty much ousted from DC. However, after Shazam! 2 and The Flash flopped, fans think that Johnson is the only one who gave it his all for the movie.
After all, the star bulked up insanely to portray the titular character and promoted the hell out of the film. The CGI in the movie was good as well. At the very least, many consider it to be better than The Flash. Not to mention the fact that it came close to touching $400 million worldwide collections, something that The Flash and Shazam 2 both couldn’t do.
This reflects on Dwayne Johnson’s massive star power as well as shows how badly damaged the DC brand is in comparison to the MCU. As such, fans couldn’t help but heap praise on the Jumanji star. They said:
Say whatever you want about ‘Black Adam’, but Dwayne Johnson’s passion for the character is undeniable. pic.twitter.com/QcZwGbjFNW
— Jordan Jones (@jordnjnes) July 7, 2023
He got built like a Dragon Ball Z character
— trytcx (@trytcx) July 7, 2023
I don’t really understand the hate, I love this film…easily a 7 or 8/10
— Gabeee (Ours TV Era) 🫶💜 (@LilSailorrr) July 7, 2023
I actually love this movie. I went in wanting a balls to the wall superhero action flick and that’s what I got. Plus, the JSA in this is legit.
— jeeb (@jeebyamen) July 8, 2023
Agreed, and frankly it’s one of the better DC movies that has come out in the last few year’s.
— Jpb Jones ☯️ (@JPBMEJones) July 8, 2023
However, not everyone agrees with this assessment. Many think that Johnson should have pushed for Black Adam and Shazam to clash rather than focusing on a fight between his character and Henry Cavill’s Superman. Others wished that the characters in the film were fleshed out better. While Black Adam isn’t a perfect film, it gave DC fans more than what the next two films did.
Black Adam is streaming on HBO Max.
Source: Twitter
