Rumors have gained a fresh catalyst after a trusted news outlet implied that Dwayne Johnson was behind the leaked financial sheet that allegedly projects the Black Adam numbers in a better light than the film’s actual profitability. Primarily, this would spell trouble at home considering how Warner Bros. executives are already looking sideways at the Black Adam actor and his elaborate plans to expand the DCU empire. But the relentless backlash that the film has been facing recently suggests there’s more that The Rock needs to be worried about than just the leaked report being traced back to him.
Also read: Black Adam Review: Super Vanity Project
Dwayne Johnson Trolled For Black Adam‘s Leaked Earnings
The report from Puck News currently suggests that the leaked financial sheet is “filled with false assumptions”. Black Adam has spent approximately $180-200 million in production costs and had a further marketing budget of $100 million (a claim that is again contested by Puck‘s Matt Belloni). A Forbes analysis suggests that the film needs to make at least $560-600 million in order to break even but the projections imply that Black Adam will still fall shy of $400 million even after the holiday season.
With numbers as underwhelming, The Rock can kiss any dreams he has harbored of an expansive Black Adam-centric franchise goodbye, and that includes the much-demanded Black Adam vs. Superman showdown that he has been teasing ever since the film’s theatrical release. If the financial sheet leaked to Deadline is a last-ditch attempt to gain some mass following and backing behind the film and its future, it’s a poor attempt at that and one that’s causing Dwayne Johnson more trouble than it’s worth.
James Gunn, in his November teasers, has already stated that The Rock’s anti-villain protagonist doesn’t fit into the current DCU plans but Superman (whether Henry Cavill’s iteration or a reboot) is at the center of the formative DC Universe Bible. It’s highly unlikely that The Rock’s alleged strong-arming will drive the new CEO to reorient his strategies into including a character arc if it already doesn’t align with his and WBD’s 10-year plan.
Fan Backlash Plagues The Rock After Black Adam‘s Failure
Given Black Adam is already performing poorly at the box office, the Deadline report does very less to block one hole at the bottom of The Rock’s sinking DCU ship. And the fans seem to agree, considering how mass resentment has been building against Dwayne Johnson after his incessant attempts at hyping up excitement surrounding the film, even after an underwhelming reception over the past few weeks.
Of course he did that, The Rock understands the public well, Black Adam is a failure at the box office and he tried to use sales data to try to say otherwise and manipulate the public, but it does not change the reality regarding the box office of a movie that cost 200 millions https://t.co/1ZNQ34KNB9
— MHA NEWS🇧🇷 (@animenews_news) December 12, 2022
Puck News spilling tea about Black Adam 💀 pic.twitter.com/LZKFZxfoet
— eljohn (LA winter saga) (@EljohnMacaranas) December 13, 2022
Man, the failure of Black Adam has really hurt The Rocks ego. He needs to take the L.and move on.
— ChancelorP (@chancelor_p) December 13, 2022
This is factually not based in reality from a strict box office standpoint. If he wants to talk alt revenue streams, that's one thing. As a theatrical release at the box office it was an objective failure #BlackAdam #BoxOffice https://t.co/1wNsP6P7vE
— OMB Reviews (@OMBReviews) December 8, 2022
I’m guessing we’ll never really know if “Black Adam” was a financial success or failure. It’s not like the accounting will ever be transparent.
— Michael Sheridan (@SheridanWriter) December 8, 2022
The aggressive marketing which The Rock led for his film was attributed to and supported by the claims of Henry Cavill’s return. People have since then been appalled by the average decency of the film and its transitory Superman cameo, and the hype that was built around the latter instead of focusing on the Black Adam IP was one of the more significant factors that contributed to the film’s box office failure.
Despite Dwayne Johnson’s insistence on the Black Adam‘s box office numbers and successful debut, the numbers whether tweaked or not aren’t flattering enough to grant him that sequel, especially not at a time when James Gunn himself is building out a world from the ground up with very less interest in an IP that is far from DC’s primary Seven.
Black Adam will premiere on HBO Max on December 16, 2022.
Source: Puck News
