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Tag: Black Adam

  • Pierce Brosnan Thinks He’ll Be Doctor Fate for ‘Man of Tomorrow’

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    Dwayne Johnson may not get to play Black Adam again, but someone from that movie may get to reprise their role in the new DC movie universe.

    During a recent interview with GQ, Pierce Brosnan said he’s more than willing to play Doctor Fate again, should the call come: “I enjoyed that, the philosphy of that character very much, and I would be open to it.” Interestingly, he then told GQ how he heard “that Fate was going to have his own show, or his own movie. I’ve heard that he’s going to be in the next Superman.”

    Days after Superman came out this past July, James Gunn told the Happy Sad Confused podcast he was “pretty sure” Doctor Fate was in the mural seen in the Hall of Justice, or at least the Justice Society in general. (Kent Nelson, the incarnation played by Brosnan, is one of its original founding members in the comics and other incarnations.) Once we got a clearer look at the mural, it turned out the man fans speculated was him was actually Maxwell Lord, but Gunn’s comment still means Fate is part of this universe’s history.

    Whether this means Doctor Fate actually is part of 2027’s Man of Tomorrow, we’ll have to wait and see. Yeah, the guy died in Black Adam, but if Brosnan’s back and wearing the Helmet of Fate again, would anyone really complain?

    Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

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    Justin Carter

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  • Zachary Levi Doesn’t Blame Dwayne Johnson For Axed ‘Black Adam’ Cameo That Could Have Bolstered ‘Shazam 2’ Box Office

    Zachary Levi Doesn’t Blame Dwayne Johnson For Axed ‘Black Adam’ Cameo That Could Have Bolstered ‘Shazam 2’ Box Office

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    By Brent Furdyk.
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    “Shazam! Fury of the Gods” hit theatres on March 17, resulting in a disappointing opening weekend with just $65 million at the worldwide box office — a 43 per cent drop from the first “Shazam” movie.

    While there are certainly many reasons behind why the film flopped (an anemic 52 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes, for example), a report from TheWrap offers another factor: Dwayne Johnson and his attempt to place his Black Adam and Henry Cavill’s Superman at the centre of the DC Extended Universe.


    READ MORE:
    ‘Shazam! Fury Of The Gods’ Crashes At The Box Office With Estimated $30.5 Million Haul

    According to TheWrap, “Black Adam” was intended to feature a post-credits sequence featuring Zachary Levi’s “Shazam” character, which would have linked the two movies and, in theory, bolstered the success of “Fury of the Gods”. That sequence, the outlet reports, would have seen Levi’s character recruited for the Justice Society — until Johnson personally “vetoed” the plan.

    Instead, the post-credits sequence featured Black Adam receiving a surprise visit from the Man of Steel, with Henry Cavill reprising the role of Superman, with the scene representing Johnson’s intention for future films featuring the two superheroes.

    “Dwayne tries to sell himself as bigger than the movie,” a “high-ranking Hollywood executive who asked for anonymity” said of Johnson. “He’s one of the few people who always thinks he’s the most important person in any situation or room.”


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    Dwayne Johnson On Henry Cavill Leaving DC After ‘Black Adam’ Brought Back Superman

    The report alleges that then-DC Films head Walter Hamada vetoed bringing Cavill in for the cameo, “but Johnson went over his head and got approval from Warner Bros. Film Group co-CEOs Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy,” noted TheWrap.

    “Instead of making a movie, he wants to extend his brand and make a brand centred on himself,” said the unnamed executive.

    In addition, a post Johnson wrote on Instagram declaring that “the hierarchy of power in the DC Universe is about to change” was meant to imply that Black Adam was now at the top of the DCEU alongside Superman — effectively shutting out Levi’s Shazam.


    READ MORE:
    Rachel Zegler Calls Out ‘Senselessly Mean’ Criticism of ‘Shazam! Fury Of The Gods’

    After the DCEU shakeup that placed James Gunn and Peter Safron in the top positions, it was announced the planned “Black Adam” sequel had been scrapped, and the earlier announcement that Cavill was returning as Superman was rescinded.

    While reps for Johnson didn’t respond to a request for comment, Levi took to Instagram Stories to comment on a post featuring key points from TheWrap‘s report, seemingly confirming its accuracy by writing, “The truth shall set you free.”

    After Levi’s social media made headlines, the actor appeared on Instagram Live on Thursday, March 23 and attempted to clarify his intentions.

    “I may or may not have, you know, reposted something in my Stories about a story that I had nothing to do with that [The Wrap] had reported on, and then I got flack about it because people were saying, ‘Oh, What are you doing? You’re trying to blame this guy because your movie’s not doing well. Like you’re trying to blame us,’” Levi said, as reported by The Hollywood Reporter.

    “Listen, I haven’t blamed anybody. There’s not one single person that I have blamed for anything about the way that our movie has performed,” he continued.

    “The reason I decided to share that was not because I wanna blame anybody for anything,” Levi added. “It’s because I do not want to be blamed for things that are not on me. And as a leader, and I believe, a protector of my family, my Shazam-ly and everyone who worked so hard on these movies … we have been doing everything we can to fight for you, the fans.”

    The actor also revealed that he’d fought to have Cavill make a cameo in the first “Shazam!” movie, but was shot down.

    “That was not on us. That was not because we didn’t want that to happen for you. […] I wanted him so bad in the first movie,” he shared.

    Levi went on to outline the post-credits sequence that was initially planned for “Black Adam”, which would have tied Shazam to the Justice Society.

    “The original intent was to have Hawkman and Cyclone be there to invite me… by the way, this is a little bit of a spoiler alert for anybody who hasn’t seen the movie. Sorry, whatever, it’s all online anyway. So, our intent, our desire — Walter Hamada, Peter Safran, David Sandberg, myself, everybody — we had an awesome scene that would have tied me in to the JSA with Hawkman and with Cyclone, and we were thwarted,” he explained.


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    Zachary Levi Says He Hasn’t Watched ‘Black Adam’ Amid Rumours Of Behind-The-Scenes Drama With Dwayne Johnson

    Levi concluded by reiterating that he wasn’t trying to assign blame for the tepid performance of “Shazam! Fury of the Gods”, but simply wanted to be transparent about what took place.

    “I’m coming to the defence of truth because truth is good,” Levi said. “We should all live in it guys, even when it’s hard, even when it’s something that might fly in the face of something that we already might have believed before and now it challenges whatever our idea or our opinion is. We need to live in the truth.”

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    Brent Furdyk

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  • Dwayne Johnson Reportedly Refused ‘Shazam 2’ Cameo

    Dwayne Johnson Reportedly Refused ‘Shazam 2’ Cameo

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    Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, who’s recently taken on the role of DC Comics anti-hero Black Adam, reportedly turned down a cameo in Shazam! Fury of the Gods. It seems like a strange choice, especially since most fans know of Black Adam through his connection to Shazam. Black Adam is frequently featured as one of Shazam’s biggest antagonists. Black Adam itself, released on October 21, 2022, introduced the character to the larger moviegoing world, as well as established the Justice Society Of America.

    In the wake of all the turmoil going on at DC right now, after it was announced that James Gunn would take over as the new co-CEO of the studio, it would appear that a few growing pains are going to be unavoidable. First off, Henry Cavill was featured as Superman in the post-credits scene of Black Adam, despite the fact that the new DC won’t be using Cavill in the role. The second is that according to a tweet from a writer over at TheWrap, Dwayne Johnson was asked to cameo in Shazam 2, only to turn the opportunity down.

    It’s complicated to decipher what exactly happened here. There are rumors that Johnson disliked the first Shazam movie, and there’s also some talk about what the future looks like for Black Adam. In multiple social media posts and press releases, Johnson has really tried to hype the film up, calling it the next big thing for DC. Unfortunately, the movie really didn’t do very well at all, with some even calling it a box office bomb.

    As of now, the future is uncertain for Black Adam. Shazam! Fury of the Gods is scheduled to open in theaters on March 17, 2023.

    Every DC Comics Movie, Ranked From Worst to Best

    From Superman and the Mole Men to The Suicide Squad, we ranked every movie based on DC comics.

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    Cody Mcintosh

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  • Henry Cavill Wants to Make a More Upbeat ‘Superman’

    Henry Cavill Wants to Make a More Upbeat ‘Superman’

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    DC has a reputation for making gritty movies. While it works sometimes, Henry Cavill says when he makes his big return as Superman in an upcoming movie, he is looking forward to a more hopeful version of the character. Cavill previously appeared in director Zack Snyder’s DC films, which tended to take Superman into the shadows. There are definitely arcs within the comics that see Superman in that kind of light, but they’re not really the truest to the character.

    Superman has long been considered a boy scout. He’s your prototypical superhero, stopping runaway trains, and rescuing damsels in distress, all with a smile and a wave. After a while, writers got bored of that whole schtick and started asking questions. What’s left for the man who has everything? What are the limits of corruption for an infinitely powerful being? These questions gave rise to an unstoppable, darker Superman, who would frequently be at odds with other heroes and villains alike.

    Henry Cavill recently sat down with ScreenRant to talk about his take on Superman. The interview was about Enola Holmes 2, but since Superman appears in the post-credits scene of Black Adam, questions were bound to arise. Cavill said:

    Obviously, I have a very close connection to the character. And there is something extraordinarily special about him; extraordinarily special about his capacity to give and to love. I don’t mean romantically; I mean his love for Earth and for the people who live here, and to make people feel powerful—to make people feel like Superman themselves. I have plenty of desires for this, of course, which will be discussed more in time. But the most important thing, which I will be aiming for, is for the audience to leave the cinema and to feel like they can fly, to feel like they can protect, and to feel like they want to give to everyone else. That would be my goal.

    Black Adam is now playing in theaters. Enola Holmes 2 debuts on Netflix on November 4. Warner Bros. has yet to announce when or where Cavill’s Superman may appear next.

    Black Adam: The Coolest DC Easter Eggs

    Here are all there references to DC comics you might have missed in Black Adam.

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    Cody Mcintosh

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  • Black Adam Has The Biggest Rotten Tomatoes Score Disparity Since Venom | Black Adam

    Black Adam Has The Biggest Rotten Tomatoes Score Disparity Since Venom | Black Adam

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    With Jaume Collet-Serra’s Black Adam opening to a solid $67 million worldwide, there’s no doubt that audiences are still very much hungry for big-budget DCEU superhero flicks spearheaded by recognizable stars. But despite a sizable box office draw, a curious dilemma that’s haunted many a superhero movie before has popped up yet again—a drastic difference in the Rotten Tomatoes audience and critic scores.

    Originally intended to serve as the antagonist to Shazam in Fury of the Gods, Dwayne Johnon’s gargantuan anti-hero Black Adam had enough backstory that DC felt he warranted his own film, which also features the Justice Society of America’s big-screen debut—including the likes of Pierce Brosnan as Doctor Fate, Noah Centineo as Atom Smasher, and Quintessa Swindell as Cyclone.

    Despite featuring a set of heroes who aren’t all-too-familiar to broader moviegoing audiences, Black Adam as a film is a project that’s been in the works (and more often than not, development hell) as early as 2006, when Dwayne Johnson was originally approached to play the role of Shazam. Of course, the role ended up going to Zachary Levi, and it would take fifteen years for both Black Adam and Shazam to make it to the big screen. So, after waiting nearly a decade and a half to get his movie off the ground, it’s understandable that Johnson might be disappointed that Black Adam received less than stellar critical reviews—the film currently sits at a lackluster 39% critic rating, averaged from 229 reviews. This rating means that out of those 229 reviewers, only 39% gave the film an overall positive rating.

    Though 39% is hardly a passing grade, a below-average score isn’t out of the norm for DCEU superhero films. Suicide Squad, Batman v Superman, and Justice League all currently sit below the 50% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. What is out of the norm, though, is the drastic disparity between the Black Adam critics scores and audience ratings. With over 5,000 user-submitted ratings, Black Adam‘s audience score currently sits at 92%.

    For context, the only other DCEU film with an audience score over 90% is Zack Snyder’s Justice League (boasting 94%), a film which was able to secure a streaming release because of significant fan support. But even Snyder’s Justice League didn’t have such a significant disparity in reviews between audience and critics. The Snyder Cut nabbed a 71% critics rating, which makes sense in conjunction with and is much closer to the similarly high audience rating.

    It’s not news that audiences generally tend to be kinder to blockbusters than critics are, but the disparity between Black Adam‘s audience and critics scores points to a a deeper phenomenon than critics coming down harsher on films than moviegoers. The last time a superhero film saw such a disparity was 2018’s Venom, which sits at a 30-80 critic vs audience score—drastic, yes, but still a solid 10% less than the Black Adam disparity.

    So where is this difference coming from? Why are audiences responding so positively to Black Adam (even moreso than usual) when critics panned it? Even the Black Adam marketing seems to have noticed just how extreme the difference is between critic and fan reactions. The majority of their marketing materials tout the impressive audience Rotten Tomatoes score, taking care to emphasize that the support is coming from fans, not critics:

    Regardless of the unsavory critical reception, Dwayne Johnson and the rest of the Black Adam team are more than happy to embrace the unprecedented fan response, with Johnson going so far as to personally thank fans for the film’s lofty Rotten Tomatoes score:

    Although the reason Black Adam, of all DC films (the franchise has certainly delivered more divisive titles) as been able to score so well with online audiences remains a mystery, it’s undeniable that the social media response to Black Adam points to a continued thirst for superhero films, even if critics are beginning to sour on the genre’s oversaturation.

    (featured image: Warner Bros.)

    —The Mary Sue has a strict comment policy that forbids, but is not limited to, personal insults toward anyone, hate speech, and trolling.—

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    Lauren Coates

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  • ‘Black Adam’ Hands Dwayne Johnson His Biggest Box Office Weekend As Leading Man

    ‘Black Adam’ Hands Dwayne Johnson His Biggest Box Office Weekend As Leading Man

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    NEW YORK (AP) — Warner Bros.′ “Black Adam” opened with an estimated $67 million, according to studio estimates Sunday, handing Dwayne Johnson his biggest box-office weekend as a leading man and launching the D.C. Comics character he spent a decade to bring to the big screen.

    “Black Adam” was a $200-million bid to upset the power balance in a DC Extended Universe dominated by the likes of Batman, Wonder Woman and Superman. The $67 million debut fell well shy of that stratosphere, even with the considerable draw of Johnson acting in his first superhero movie. Still, “Black Adam” managed the highest opening weekend since “Thor: Love and Thunder” debuted with $143 million in July.

    “Black Adam,” which stars Johnson as an ancient Egyptian summoned to the modern day, was notably hobbled by poor reviews (40% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes). Moviegoers were kinder, giving the film a B+ CinemaScore. It collected $73 million internationally for a $140 million global haul.

    “Black Adam” took a circuitous route to reach theaters. The character had originally been planned to launch as a villain in 2019′s “Shazam!” before executives pivoted to give Black Adam a standalone feature. The goofier “Shazam!,” which cost closer to $100 million to make, opened with $53.5 million in ticket sales and wound up an over-achieving success with $366 million worldwide.

    The stakes were higher for “Black Adam,” though. While promoting the film, Johnson hasn’t been shy about his desire to follow up “Black Adam” with a showdown with Superman. But whether the receipts for “Black Adam” are enough to warrant that remains unclear. Under new leadership, Warner Bros. is overhauling its approach to DC Comics adaptations.

    Jeff Goldstein, distribution chief for Warner Bros., celebrated the results as a personal best for Johnson outside of the “Fast & Furious” films, and a PG-13 film with broad-based appeal that audiences responded to better than critics. Still, it’s a time of transition for Warner Bros.′ reorganizing DC unit as the studio seeks more Marvel-sized successes. Next on tap is “Shazam! Fury of the Gods” in March.

    “It’s all about making good movies. It’s all about finding the right scripts,” said Goldstein. “Our studio is definitely going through a major revamping of our production leadership and style and approach. I think that we’ll be able to crack this nut. We’re definitely focused in on doing that.”

    “Ticket to Paradise,” the Bali-set romantic comedy starring Julia Roberts and George Clooney, proved smart counterprogramming. The Universal Pictures release debuted with $16.3 million, well above recent sales for rom-coms, which have struggled in recent years at the box office. The film is already a hit abroad, where it’s been in release for the last month, accruing $80.2 million in ticket sales.

    Earlier this month, Universal’s R-rated “Bros,” an LGBTQ milestone in the genre, debuted with a disappointing $4.8 million. “Ticket to Paradise” had a notable advantage in its two stars, and appealed particularly to older audiences; 64% of ticket buyers were 35 and up, the studio said.

    “It became an event film for all audiences this weekend but especially for older audiences that can be difficult to get into theaters,” said Jim Orr, head of distribution for Universal. “We all know this is a demographic group that doesn’t exactly run out to see films opening weekend. That gives us great encouragement for the weeks and months ahead.”

    Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for data firm Comscore, noted it was the first weekend with a $65 million opener and more than $100 million in overall domestic ticket sales since July. That was owed largely to star power, he said, in the appeal of both “Ticket to Paradise” and “Black Adam” with Johnson.

    “He was the engine that really drove this box office despite some headwinds in terms of the DC brand and this not being as known a character,” said Dergarabedian. “This is a very strong starting point for Dwayne Johnson in the mix of DC Comics. He’s like a box-office supercharger. Forty-percent Rotten Tomatoes, but people just want to see Dwayne Johnson on the big screen because he is bigger than life.”

    Last week’s top film, “Halloween Ends,” dropped massively in its second weekend. The Universal horror sequel, which was simultaneously released on Peacock, declined 80% with $8 million. Meanwhile, Paramount Pictures’ “Smile,” continued to defy the typical declines for horror releases. With $8.4 million in its fourth week of release, “Smile” came in third and boosted its overall domestic sales to $84.3 million.

    As more acclaimed awards contenders land in theaters, Searchlight Pictures’ “The Banshees of Inisherin” started its run with one of the best per-theater averages of the year. The Martin McDonagh drama, starring Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson, opened with $181,000 in four theaters for a per-theater average of $45,250. For A24, Charlotte Wells’ “Aftersun,” starring Paul Mescal and Frankie Corio as a father and daughter on vacation, also debuted solidly in four theaters, with a $16,589 per-theater average.

    Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.

    1. “Black Adam,” $67 million.

    2. “Ticket to Paradise,” $16.3 million.

    3. “Smile,” $8.4 million

    4. “Halloween Ends,” $8 million.

    5. “Lyle, Lyle Crocodile,” $4.2 million.

    6. “The Woman King,” $1.9 million.

    7. “Terrifier 2,” $1.9 million.

    8. “Don’t Worry Darling,” $880,000.

    9. “Amsterdam,” $811,000.

    10. “Triangle of Sadness,” $600,000.

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  • Box Office: ‘Black Adam’ Rocks Out With Solid $67 Million Weekend

    Box Office: ‘Black Adam’ Rocks Out With Solid $67 Million Weekend

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    Warner Bros. Discovery and DC Films’ Black Adam easily topped the domestic weekend box office with $67 million. That’s Dwayne Johnson’s biggest non-Fast & Furious debut weekend ever, and thus his biggest in a star vehicle. In terms of DC Films-related launches, it is bigger than Shazam! ($57 million counting previews) and their biggest non-Batman (or Batman-adjacent like Joker) opening weekend since Aquaman ($72 million) in late 2018. Shazam! cost $90 million, while Black Adam cost $195 million. The $165 million budgeted Aquaman legged out to $334 million domestic amid the lucrative year-end blitz, becoming the leggiest live-action comic book superhero movie since Tim Burton’s Batman. Black Adam also got reviews closer to Justice League (39% and 5/10 on Rotten Tomatoes versus 40% and 5.1/10 for Black Adam) than Wonder Woman (93% and 7.7/10).

    Like the Jurassic sequels and the Transformers films, the pans didn’t hurt because they still promised what audiences wanted (The Rock as a kid-friendly invincible killing machine amid IMAX-worthy spectacle and DC superhero tropes) out of this specific franchise entry. That Black Adam opened at the high end of Johnson’s star vehicles implies that the audience was a mix of DC fans, Rock fans and those who consider themselves parts of both respective fandoms. Since we’re not talking about a sky-high launch, it also implies that Johnson’s star power only means so much when dealing with a C-level character. For the first time since Nicolas Cage’s Ghost Rider in 2007 (and before that, Wesley Snipes’ Blade in 1998), a big Marvel/DC movie featured a movie star who was bigger than the marquee character.

    It wasn’t about credit cookies or publicity chatter about Black Adam fighting Henry Cavill’s Superman in a theoretical spin-off. Let’s see if Johnson can survive a fight with Zachary Levi’s Shazam. It was the whole package, including being the first four-quadrant, kid-friendly franchise tentpole since Marvel’s Thor: Love and Thunder in early July. However, it won’t be uncontested for long. It might get kneecapped by Black Panther: Wakanda Forever in weekend four, as happened in April 2019 when Shazam! crumbled under the might of Avengers: Endgame. Shazam!’s $140 million domestic and $366 million worldwide (including $43 million in China) won’t cut it this time. With $140 million worldwide thus far, the overseas business will likely be substantial. We don’t yet know A) if Black Adam will play in China and B) how well it will perform if it does.

    Rampage earned $155 million of its $430 million global total in China. Black Adam will make much more domestically than that video game adaptation’s $103 million North American cume, but its budget is closer to Jungle Cruise ($200 million) than Jumanji 3 ($120 million). Most of Johnson’s star vehicle hits (Journey 2: The Incredible Island, Hercules, Rampage, San Andreas, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, Jumanji: The Next Level, Fast Five, etc.) were budgeted at $90-$120 million. They didn’t *need* China to make a profit. Black Adam cost about as much as Kong: Skull Island which earned $168 million domestic from a $60 million debut and $567 million worldwide, including $168 million in China. Ditto Ready Player One earning $135 million domestically, $220 million in China and $581 million worldwide on a $175 million budget.

    Say Black Adam legs out to around $175-$195 million domestic (multipliers on par with Hobbs & Shaw, Rampage) and earns global grosses on par with Jason Statham’s The Meg ($530 million including $144 million domestic and $153 million in China) outside of China and crosses $400 million global. That’s a circumstantial differential which changed since Covid. However, “only” earns $145-$155 million domestic, and then “only” makes overseas grosses sans China and Russia on par with Rampage and barely crosses $300 million, that’s a problem. The best-case scenario would be for Black Adam to either get a China release and party like it’s 2017 or to thrive (relatively speaking) alongside Black Panther 2 and earn enough overseas not to need China to bump up the global cume. The Jumanji sequels didn’t ($119 million out of $1.762 billion).

    For now, the future looks relatively bright. The $67 million domestic debut is on the high end of realistic expectations. The 2.5x weekend multiplier shows that reviews didn’t hurt and that kids showed up yesterday and today for kid-friendly superhero violence. Its existence as the first kid-friendly tentpole in 3.5 months may help it leg out even alongside Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. In terms of four-quadrant tentpoles, it’s basically Black Adam, Black Panther 2, Avatar 2, DreamWorks Animation’s Puss in Boots 2 and Disney’s Strange World for the rest of the year. China is only a big unknown because Dwayne Johnson has been a butts-in-seats draw in that previously significant overseas territory and his films (alongside Statham and Vin Diesel) have occasionally been among the few where China made the difference between success and failure.

    I don’t know what this means for DC Films since the goalposts keep changing as one new corporate owner after another changes the direction and frankly undercuts what was working. Walter Hamada was doing what we all wanted, making DC Comics movies of varying sizes, scales and sub-genres which weren’t overly predicated on Batman. Absent Covid and HBO Max (which kneecapped Wonder Woman 1984 and brought the SnyderVerse back to the discourse table), his run would be seen as relatively successful. I’m sure he’ll land somewhere safe and plentiful (Universal?). His successor will either do what he did and try to sell it as a bold, innovative approach or directly copy Marvel with predictably grim results. But for now, Black Adam is a solid hit for DC and WB.

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    Scott Mendelson, Forbes Staff

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  • Black Adam’s Huge Critic To Audience Score Gap Is Now Tied With ‘Venom’

    Black Adam’s Huge Critic To Audience Score Gap Is Now Tied With ‘Venom’

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    While I know there’s a narrative that especially for things like big blockbuster superhero movies, you shouldn’t listen to critics and only the fans, the truth is…they’re not very split all that often. Critics, of course, have given “fresh” aggregate ratings to every single MCU movie except one, and when we do see splits, they’re maybe 10-20% different than fans in either direction, at most. Often, they’re almost the same.

    Then, there are outliers. The biggest outlier that’s always cited when this issue of Rotten Tomatoes scores comes up is the gap between critic scores for Venom and its audience scores. The gap there is 50%, with critic scoring it a 30%, and fans rating it an 80%. The fans won that one, given that Venom was a big box office hit, spawned a sequel and an entire Spider-villain universe from Sony (though we did get Morbius, so who really won there?).

    Now, Black Adam is the second superhero movie ever to open up a gap that wide. At the moment, it is exactly the same spread. Critics have scored Black Adam at 40% in aggregate, while thousands of fans have rated it a 90% instead, a 50% gap. Critics are scoring it tied with Joss Whedon’s Justice League. Fans are scoring it higher than everything except Zack Snyder’s Justice League. Yeah the DCEU is weird.

    Again, this really does not happen as often as fans seem to think, so when you do see a gap like that, it’s actually pretty significant. Early reports are that Black Adam is going to do well at the box office, already setting records for The Rock personally, so it may track along with Venom that way as well. It seems likely that The Rock’s promised plans to build out Black Adam, the JSA and a future rivalry/alliance with Superman may indeed come to pass if the film performs well enough.

    So what happened here? Why are critics missing the mark on this one (and having seen the film, I agree that most of them are missing the mark)? The problem with Venom was that it was dumb fun that critics were perhaps trying to judge more like a traditional MCU movie. The same thing might be said for Black Adam and its murder-happy antihero, and some of these reviews are pretty eye-rolling:

    “An unpleasant, cacophonous barrage of symbols and sounds. It adds up to little more than a two-hour montage of action and comedy concepts divorced from rhythm, or comprehensibility, or real humanity. The Rock used to be fun—but this is no fun at all.”

    “A paint by numbers superhero film that refuses to actually embrace the moral ambiguity of the original character. Not wildly offensive but unfortunately not particularly entertaining. Had this come out 10 years ago perhaps it wouldn’t feel so anemic.”

    “Black Adam wants to be the film that “rights” the DCEU, but it’s just another messy, shallow entry into a sloppy canon that won’t commit to real ideas.”

    Like sheesh, lighten up a bit. I mean granted, I’ve hated plenty of DC superhero films in the past, but I’m really just not connecting these criticisms with what I actually saw onscreen with Black Adam, and it appears audiences are not either. For as “wrong” as subjective opinions can be, it does seem like critics were off-based with this one.

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    Paul Tassi, Senior Contributor

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  • Black Adam Day 2 Box Office: Dwayne Johnson led superhero flick sees an expected drop on Friday; Adds 5 crore

    Black Adam Day 2 Box Office: Dwayne Johnson led superhero flick sees an expected drop on Friday; Adds 5 crore

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    Black Adam collected a healthy Rs. 6.5 cr nett at the Indian Box Office, on its first ticketing day, that is on 20th October, 2022. The film emerged as the fifth biggest Hollywood opener in India for the year of 2022, behind Dr. Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness, Thor: Love And Thunder, Jurrasic World: Dominion and The Batman. The collections of Black Adam were pretty good considering that it was a mid-week Thursday release in the country. To top that, Dwayne Johnson does enjoy a good box office pull in India, more than most Hollywood actors outside franchise films. 

    On Friday, Black Adam went down by around 20-25 percent, as it collected between Rs. 4.80 cr and Rs. 5.30 cr nett. The numbers went down on expected lines as most Hollywood films do drop a little on Day 2, unless it is a Saturday, where most of the collection happens. It also lost significant amount of screens down south, with films like Sardar and Prince releasing this Friday. Black Adam of course doesn’t have numbers like a Marvel film does in India, but at the moment, Marvel is no competition either, as no other franchise, universe or IP is as established as Marvel is. 

    The two day total of Black Adam is around Rs. 11.5 crore nett and the film may see its biggest ticketing day tomorrow, that is on Saturday since most Holllywood films have healthy footfalls coming on Saturday. Sunday and Monday will be hit hard by India vs Pakistan T20 Worldcup match and Laxmi Pooja Day. Tuesday onwards, the Hindi Diwali releases Thank God and Ram Setu will take over the reigns. In short, Black Adam is facing way too much competition in its theatrical run. The film will be targetting a number around the Rs. 40 cr nett mark and it should be a decently good result for the film, considering a much bigger film like The Batman didn’t do much more than that, either, in India. And unlike Black Adam, The Batman had quite a smooth release with no real local competition.

    You can watch Black Adam at a theatre near you.

    Also read: Black Adam Day 1 Box Office: Dwayne Johnson led superhero flick takes a healthy opening of Rs. 6.5 cr in India

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  • ‘Black Adam’ Producer Frustrated By Post-Credits Scene Leak

    ‘Black Adam’ Producer Frustrated By Post-Credits Scene Leak

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    Black Adam has been in the works for an extremely long time. So it makes sense the people behind it would be a little upset when things get spoiled. In the lead-up to the film’s release, Dwayne Johnson made some hints here and there, even coming right out to say it in an interview. While of course, a fight between Black Adam and Shazam was planned, Johnson wanted more. When asked if the film would lead to a fight between Black Adam and a certain guy from Smallville, he said:

    Absolutely. That is the whole point of this man … I have been saying for some time, there’s a new era in the DC Universe that’s about to begin. And what I meant by that was introducing a brand new character. It’s not a sequel, not an existing IP. It was…you know, Black Adam. Two years ago the world had no idea who he was. We did, but not, you know, the rest of the mass out there. Introducing the JSA, introducing that new era of the DC universe.

    Hinting is one thing. But in recent weeks, footage of the movie’s post-credits scene leaked online, long before audiences had the chance to pay for a ticket to see the sequence for themselves. Hiram Garcia, a producer on the project, spoke a bit about the scene’s early release in an interview with /Film:

    Oh my God, it is so frustrating. You work so hard, but look, we understand that this ending and this dream, this family dream that we had to bring to life, we knew that it was going to have an effect on the fans that were just like, ‘Oh my God!’ We heard them begging for it for so long. We’ve been wanting it for so long. It’s disappointing that it leaks. You hope that the fans that are so passionate about it really do their best to block it  out so that they can go and get the movie and enjoy it.

    If you want to see the scene for yourself, Black Adam is currently screening in theaters now.

    Black Adam: The Coolest DC Easter Eggs

    Here are all there references to DC comics you might have missed in Black Adam.

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    Cody Mcintosh

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  • DC Films Chief Leaves Warner Bros.

    DC Films Chief Leaves Warner Bros.

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    Walter Hamada, who has been the head of DC Films at Warner Bros. since 2008, has left the company. Hamada began his career at TriStar as an assistant, before moving to Warner Bros.’ New Line Cinema division in 2007. While there, he served as a producer on some really big films, such as The Conjuring series and It. He was largely involved in horror films from that time.

    After Justice League came out and bombed at the box office, Hamada stepped in to lead the DC department at Warner Bros. He made a lot of the bigger DC films of recent history possible, from Aquaman to Joker, which is the highest-grossing R-rated movie of all time. Hamada was reportedly ready to leave his position after the new leadership at Warner Bros. Discovery shelved the HBO Max movie of Batgirl, but he remained on the job through the release of this week’s Black Adam, starring Dwayne Johnson as the DC antihero.

    Warner Bros. Discovery head David Zaslav has stated publicly that the studio is going to model their ten-year plan for DC movies after the MCU, and weirdly enough, it seems like they’ve already tried that, and it hasn’t quite panned out. Trying to emulate the success of Marvel doesn’t really seem like a sustainable business model. There’s only one Kevin Feige after all.

    Despite Hamada’s departure, Warners has not yet found a replacement to take charge of its DC Films unit. Although there were reports that The LEGO Movie producer Dan Lin was in line assume command of the division, those articles turned out to be premature, and Lin has since dropped out of contention for the job.

    Actors Who Turned Down DC Roles

    These major stars could have played some of your favorite DC Comics’ heroes onscreen. But they all said no for one reason or another.

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    Cody Mcintosh

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  • ‘Black Adam’ Is Currently The Fourth Worst-Reviewed DCEU Movie Ever

    ‘Black Adam’ Is Currently The Fourth Worst-Reviewed DCEU Movie Ever

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    While early “social media impressions” of Black Adam were largely positive in the wake of its premiere, now that scored critical reviews have come rolling in, it’s much more of a mixed bag. At the time of this writing, 64 reviews are in for Black Adam, which has scored a 55% on Rotten Tomatoes, making it “rotten” by the designations of the site.

    While many are content to wait for audience scores, which many believe are the superior metric (that’s a debate for another day), we can see how Black Adam stacks currently up against the rest of the DCEU. And it’s not great. With the 55% score, that means Black Adam is the fourth worst-reviewed DCEU offering out of 13 projects, a cinematic universe already not exactly known for its consistent quality. Here’s the list as it stands.

    1. Peacemaker (TV) – 94%
    2. Wonder Woman – 93%
    3. The Suicide Squad – 90%
    4. Shazam – 90%
    5. Birds of Prey – 79%
    6. Zack Snyder’s Justice League – 71%
    7. Aquaman – 65%
    8. Wonder Woman 1984 – 58%
    9. Man of Steel – 56%
    10. Black Adam – 55%
    11. Joss Whedon’s Justice League – 40%
    12. Batman V Superman – 29%
    13. Suicide Squad (Ayer) – 26%

    So here, Black Adam is only above the absolute worst of the DCEU, the original Justice League, Batman V. Superman and Suicide Squad. I will say I disagree with a lot of rankings on this list. Shazam, Birds of Prey and Wonder Woman 1984 should be lower, if you ask me. Man of Steel and Aquaman should be higher. So it remains to be seen if critics got Black Adam “wrong” or not.

    I have absolutely no doubt that audience scores will be higher for Black Adam, and those are what The Rock will end up touting on social media, given that a 55% critic score is nothing to brag about. It’s possible that audiences are genuinely more entertained than critics, but also The Rock has made himself a slew of powerful internet allies in the form of Zack Snyder fans for supporting the Snyder Cut and going to bat for Henry Cavill’s Superman. I think there’s little chance audience scores are not significantly higher than critic scores for this one.

    But even still, this isn’t great. The Rock has hyped up Black Adam beyond belief, and the movie is scoring 35% below Shazam, the film he extracted himself from and the character he seems content to ignore in favor of moving on to bigger rivalries like Superman. And outside of the DCEU, these Black Adam scores put it below every single MCU movie ever made except for Eternals. These numbers may go up or down as more reviews come in, but it’s clearly not going to reach a much higher tier.

    Of course, what really matters in the end is box office. If Black Adam does huge numbers then critic scores don’t matter and The Rock will get all the sway he’s hoping for in helping guide the future of DC, most likely. But if Black Adam underperforms or even bombs, this grand vision of making the character a key part of the universe going forward with sequels and face-offs against Superman does not seem likely to materialize.

    Follow me on Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and Instagram. Subscribe to my free weekly content round-up newsletter, God Rolls.

    Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.

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    Paul Tassi, Senior Contributor

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  • Dwayne Johnson May Have Spilled The Beans About A Surprise Appearance In ‘Black Adam’

    Dwayne Johnson May Have Spilled The Beans About A Surprise Appearance In ‘Black Adam’

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    Dwayne Johnson is dancing around spoilers about DC’s upcoming superhero film “Black Adam.”

    Leading up to the film’s release, reports have hinted that Henry Cavill’s Superman, a character that Johnson has wanted to see Black Adam fight on-screen for a long time, will appear in the highly-anticipated project.

    At a film screening in New York on Wednesday, Entertainment Tonight noted that the “cat was out of the bag” before asking Johnson how involved he was in Cavill’s return to the DC Extended Universe (DCEU).

    “Here’s what I can tell you,” the action star replied, seemingly tiptoeing around his words. “I can tell you that the whole goal and initiative of ‘Black Adam’ was to build out the DC Universe by introducing not only Black Adam, but the entire JSA… and also, as I have been saying all along, there’s an ethos that we at Seven Bucks [Productions] have… and that is, we always put the fans first.”

    The Justice Society of America (JSA) is a team of superheroes published by DC Comics, including Doctor Fate, Hourman, The Spectre, Sandman, Atom, The Flash, Green Lantern and Hawkman.

    Johnson then hinted that he expects Cavill to appear in the DCEU again. “We’ve established Black Adam as the most powerful and unstoppable force on our planet,” he said. “But the fans have been so passionate about, as we have been, ‘Where is the most unstoppable force in the universe? Where is he?’ Well, we’ve all been fighting for this moment, so I will say this: Welcome home.”

    Although details about Cavill’s appearance remain unclear, Johnson hasn’t been shy about promising an eventual crossover and face-off between the two brawny characters.

    Earlier this month, when asked if Black Adam and Superman will ever clash on film, Johnson told Cinema Blend: “Absolutely. That is the whole point of this. There’s a new era in the DC universe that’s about to begin.”

    According to Comic Book Resources, Black Adam and Superman have fought multiple times in the comics.

    Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra (“Orphan”), “Black Adam” also stars Aldis Hodge as Hawkman, Noah Centineo as Atom Smasher, Sarah Shahi as Isis, Marwan Kenzari as Sabbac, Quintessa Swindell as Cyclone and Pierce Brosnan as Doctor Fate.

    In August, Johnson discussed his plans for expanding the DC Extended Universe, sharing that their main objective is “to really expand the universe, and introduce new characters, and spin-off, and be really strategic about the plan.”

    Johnson continued, “We have a few ideas of what characters people are really going to respond to in ‘Black Adam,’ and so we’re already thinking ahead to: ‘Let’s start thinking about that movie, and what that movie looks like for them.’”

    “Black Adam” opens in theaters on Oct. 21.

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