Dwayne Johnson is still fighting back. But the remarkable failure of Black Adam is shrinking the former mega-blockbuster star to normal size.
For former wrestler Dwayne Johnson, movies are sports and sporting success is measured by numbers. When a Dwayne Johnson film is in the cinema, he likes to announce the best scores achieved on his social channels. This can also be the best 4th weekend after the cinema release since the Corona pandemic in a March with unusually high humidity. The main thing is to set some kind of record.
In the last few days we have seen how Dwayne Johnson behaves when there are no records to announce. The DC superhero film Black Adam, starring Johnson, has been in cinemas since October. An American entertainment website dared to compare the earnings of Black Adam with those of the MCU entry Black Panther 2 . Johnson reacted as sourly as if someone had spat in his protein shake.
Black Adam is a huge defeat for Dwayne Johnson
The Rock pride is going through its meltdown right now. The DC blockbuster stood at a worldwide box office of $320 million after the all-important first 3 weeks , Wakanda Forever managed 546 million in 2 weeks .
With a budget of just under 200 million US dollars plus marketing costs (between 150 and 200 million US dollars), Black Adam will only just break even, if at all. For a star who defines himself largely by box-office results, this should give pause for thought. But The Rock acted as if a Ferrari (Wakanda Forever) was being sent into a race with a Twingo (Black Adam): “We’re babies and we have to grow :-)”.
He made his own film small and thus distracted from a question that is in the air at the latest after Black Adam: Just how train-worthy is the film star Dwayne Johnson really?
The expectations for Black Adam and Dwayne Johnson were (too) high
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever has earned over $400 million at the global box office, making it the most profitable superhero film to be released this fall. Black Adam, which came out in October, has earned $353 million at the global box office. pic.twitter.com/CoiFulfwU5
– IGN (@IGN) November 19, 2022
Brands and characters are more important than the stars they are embodied by in this era of blockbuster cinema. Franchises like Fast and Furious and the MCU are more appealing to viewers than Chris Hemsworth, Charlie Hunnam or Daisy Ridley. One of the few contemporary stars for whom this rule did not seem to apply: Dwayne Johnson. He pumped the Fast series and the Jumanji brand to blockbuster size, films like Skyscraper and San Andreas made reliable profits with him in the lead.
Expectations for Black Adam were therefore high: Johnson emphasised the violence of his blockbuster mantra-like in the run-up. One of the biggest film stars of our time was merging with the most promising branch of film today, the superhero genre. Black Adam potentiated powers as if German long jumper Malaika Mihambo were attempting a record on the moon.
That a wrap on BLACK ADAM⚡️
Incredible journey.
Hardest undertaking of my entire career physically & mentally.
Worth every second.
Boundless gratitude to my 1,000+ crew members, actors and director, Jaume Collet-Serra.
The hierarchy of power in the DC Universe is changing.
BA⚡️ https://t.co/adjLrimOYS– Dwayne Johnson (@TheRock) July 16, 2021
The Rock wanted to reorder the hierarchy of the DCEU – of course Black Adam should be at the top before Wonder Woman and Batman. But even in an internal DC comparison, the Black Adam debut looks rather woeful. Gal Gadot’s first film made $435 million worldwide in 2 weeks in 2017 under similar circumstances . Robert Pattinson’s The Batman reached 600 million US dollars in 3 weeks this year . Black Adam is more in league with the much cheaper DC comedy Shazam! which made 366 million overall in 2019.
What does this mean for Dwayne Johnson? Precisely because the conditions for a billion-dollar hit have supposedly never been more favourable, the Black Adam failure is shaking The Rock’s rock violently. It had already been shaking before.
