Dwayne Johnson’s DCU debut as Black Adam was not worth the hype the movie had created before its release. Even Johnson’s big name could not adhere to the inherent cash flow at the box office as it was predicted, sadly, the 2022 movie met the same fate as several box-office disasters coming out of the superhero brand recently.
In DCU’s rival brand MCU, Chris Hemsworth’s Thor: Love and Thunder has ranked above Johnson’s Black Adam in the streaming debut. Of course, Hemsworth’s MCU movie also had a higher box-office collection grossing over $760.9 million worldwide while Black Adam had to settle for $393 million.
Chris Hemsworth’s Thor: Love and Thunder Beats Dwayne Johnson’s Black Adam
As the digital release of Black Adam hit Max Samba TV’s data on total household views of the film meets almost the same fate as its box office collection. Arguably, it would not be fair to state that it was a downright disappointment but considering the hype of the movie and Dwayne Johnson’s name attached to the title character, it fell short of meeting the expectations of the DC fans. Now, the movie ranks below Chris Hemsworth’s Thor: Love and Thunder. Samba TV SVP Dallas Lawrence reflected on the overall ranking of some superhero movies from both leading brands.
“While Black Adam’s streaming debut on HBO Max fell short compared to superhero films like Batman, Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness, and Thor: Love and Thunder, it was a hit with younger and diverse audiences. Black households were more likely to watch the adventure film than the national average by nearly 25 percent, and Gen Z and Millennial audiences also over-indexed on viewership,” Lawrence said (via ScreenRant).
Adding further, Lawrence said, “Appealing to these younger, more diverse audiences is critical as HBO Max continues to find new growth opportunities and widen its subscriber base,” In its essence, Johnson previously revealed that he was proud of being a part of the project despite the less appealing box-office spectacle.
Also read: Dwayne Johnson’s Most Successful Movie in Box Office in Last 4 Years is the One Most Fans Now Avoid
Dwayne Johnson Reflected on Black Adam’s Box Office Run
Johnson’s Black Adam had a good start as the movie made its theatrical debut collecting $67 million in the opening weekend which was ranking on top at the box office. It was also marked as the highest opening grosser of Johnson’s career as a leading star. However, the numbers soon plummeted. Appealing to Kevin Hart’s Hart to Heart, Johnson reflected on the reason for the downfall of the movie. “I think that Black Adam got caught in a vortex of new leadership,” Johnson said, perhaps, referring to the Warner Brothers and Discovery merger in 2022.
“And at that time, as we were creating Black Adam, developing it, shooting Black Adam, we got knocked down a little bit because of Covid and the shutdowns got back up. There were so many changes in leadership. And as you know, any time you have a company, but especially that size and magnitude, that’s a publicly traded company and you have all those changes in leadership, you have people coming in who creatively, fiscally are going to make decisions that you may not agree with philosophically. So I think Black Adam was one of those movies that got caught in that web of new leadership,” Johnson told Hart.
However, the biggest opening of his career downgrading to a disappointing total baffled the actor. “But that was a question out of Wall Street, that was a question out of Hollywood,” the 51-year-old added. Regardless, Johnson was proud of being a part of the movie creating a diverse portfolio of superheroes.
Black Adam is available to stream on Max while Thor: Love and Thunder can be streamed on Disney Plus.
