Black Adam earns $67 million in its opening weekend, making it the best opening gross ever for a film starring Dwayne Johnson.
Black Adam broke the opening weekend box office record for a lead role of Dwayne Johnson. The film, the latest entry in the DC Extended Universe, sees the star team up again with Jungle Cruise director Jaume Collet-Serra. Opening on October 21 Black Adam is the origin story of the title character, a former slave from Kahndaq who gains divine powers before being imprisoned for 5,000 years.
When Black Adam is released in the modern era, he encounters the Justice Society of America, whose roster includes Hawkman (Aldis Hodge), Atom Smasher (Noah Centineo), and Doctor Fate (Pierce Brosnan). Together, they must face the demon Sabbac as Black Adam finds out where he really lies on the hero-to-antihero spectrum. The film’s cast also includes Sarah Shahi, Marwan Kenzari, Bodhi Sabongui, and Quintessa Swindell as Cyclone.
Per Deadline, Black Adam dominated the opening weekend with a total of $67 million over three days. Not only is this the first 2022 movie to crack $50 million on opening weekend since Thor: Love and Thunder at the beginning of July, this is the highest opening gross ever for a film starring Johnson. While he appeared in ensemble films that have had better openings, especially as part of the Fast and furious franchise, Black Adam‘s opening surpassed projects like San Andreas, Skyscrapereven Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle.
Could upcoming Dwayne Johnson movies break Black Adam’s record?
There are probably quite a few reasons that Black Adam is a personal best for Johnson. One of the reasons is that this is his first superhero movie (not counting this year’s movie) DC League of Super Pets, for which he provided the voice of Krypto), and that genre has held a tremendous amount of appeal for the public over the past decade. However, Black Adam had the best opening weekend for the DCEU since Aquarius in 2018, so the genre isn’t the only reason. Black Adam may have been given an extra boost by how long it had been in production since it was originally announced, building anticipation over several years.
It can be difficult for the star to appreciate the success of Black Adam in the future. Although he has several projects in the hopper, they seem incapable of offering super competition. His greatest possible title, the upcoming action movie Rode opposite Chris Evans, will premiere on Prime Video, so there aren’t any big box office receipts to pull off. This means that the most likely chance to beat Black Adam would be its own sequel, should that be green lit from the back of this opening weekend.
Source: Deadline
