AfterThe Flashbombed, Dwayne Johnson may have been onto something when making his case for whyBlack Adamwas a financial success despite being seen as a box office failure upon its release.
Following the Discovery merger with Warner Bros. that saw WBD CEO David Zaslav shelveBatgirland remove previous WB President Walter Hamada,Black Adam, a film part of the previous WB regime, was still on the horizon after the financialfailures ofBirds of Prey,Wonder Woman 1984, andThe Suicide Squad. This was largely due to the latter two releasing day-and-date on HBO Max because of the pandemic and arguably because those previous entries were the beginning of the poorly planned DCEU soft reboot. So,Black Adamhad to prove itself to the new WBD CEO to justify the future Johnson envisioned for his corner of the franchise.
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Black Adamwas still thrown under the busdespite the film doing better than the previous three DCEU films. However, because the following two DCEU films,Shazam: Fury of the GodsandThe Flash, only matchedBlack Adamfinancially in combined revenue, the failure ofBlack Adamis now being revisited by some. While this wouldn’t freeBlack Adamfrom being a box office failure alone, the fact that the film had a gross of $390 million globally, without a China release, seems to have re-contextualized the film’s success. These details may not have mattered to WB because of their reluctance to move forward with the Snyderverse, seeing as howBlack Adambrought back Henry Cavill’s Supermanfor the first time sinceZack Snyder’s Justice League, despite WB wanting to recast the character. Of course, it is arguable that studios don’t spend a reported $190–260 million to earn $52-$72 million in profits, especially since Johnson’s figures were reportedly disputable (viaPuck).
Compared toThe Flash’s box office gross,Black Adam’s success or failure may not be so cut and dry in retrospect. Since then,Shazam: Fury of the GodsandThe Flashexperienced a box office decline that falls on various outside factors that some fans think are detrimental to the brand’s success. These factors include WB releasing and standing by the theatrical cut ofJustice League,labelingZack Snyder’s Justice Leaguea “cul-de-sac”upon its release, Zaslav axingBatgirl, DC Studios CEO James Gunn’s announcement of another soft reboot, and the overall industry business model that envisions a philosophical shift from art to content reflected in the rise of streaming juxtaposed to the theater experience.
What has transpired withBlack Adam, regarding the conflict between Johnson and WB, is just one piece of the downward spiral of DC that some fans believe began with WB cutting 30 minutes from the theatrical release ofBatman v Supermanin hopes that it would make the film more profitable, which only amounted to poor critical reception that then made the studio double down on their meddling with the following DCEU films. Now, the future of DC looks bleak under a studio $49 billion in debt during a writers’ strike, which WB may be responsible for, with no foreseeable end to it in sight unlessBlue Beetle,Aquaman 2, or Gunn’s DCU can break this streak.
