Dwayne Johnson has been a steadfast, one-man promotion machine for Black Adam. Whether it has been behind-the-scenes videos, praise for his fellow cast members, or blowing an enormous trumpet for every weekend the movie claimed the top spot at the box office. However, following reports that Black Adam was about to lose money for Warner Bros. Discovery, the analogy used by The Rock to support his view that the movie has been a huge success and is a solid base for the DCU to build on has confused many people. The reason for this? Well, he decided to compare box offices with the first Captain America movie, which is now over a decade ago. He wrote:
“Waited to confirm with financiers before I shared this excellent #BlackAdam news - our film will PROFIT between $52M-$72M. Fact. At almost $400M worldwide we are building our new franchise step by step (first Captain America did $370M) for the DC future.”
While Johnson’s intention was clearly to point out that the first movies in a big franchise don’t instantly blow past $1 billion, using a film that is over a decade old as a point of reference in the fast-moving world of comic book movies, some people are going to pick up on it. Many of The Rock’s followers on Twitter were more than happy to point out the dated comparison, while others were more interested in saying new stories didn’t matter when they would end up just like the original DCU plan.
Will Black Adam Get His Big Multi-Movie Storylines?
If you were to ask Dwayne Johnson that question, he would most likely bravado it out with a definite yes, and probably throw in his well-worn “changing the hierarchy of the DCU” line. However, yesterday as part of the report that most likely instigated Johnson’s post, The Hollywood Reporter suggested that Black Adam 2 is not likely to be moving ahead as part of the new DCU plan.
Considering we have spent over a year listening to Johnson talk about the DCU being built around Black Adam, the news was the moment when questions began to be asked about exactly what the big connection is going to be between the new DCU movies and shows. This is something that James Gunn has already addressed via his own Twitter account, noting that there are many aspects of the DCU in flux right now, and there are some decisions that are still to be made that have been assumed in the article. However, he does not say which of the stories included in the lengthy breakdown of what is going down the pan at WBD.
All in all, things are clearly still not set in stone for the DCU one way or the other. This could mean that the performance of next year’s slate of movies has a significant influence over what does and doesn’t move forward in the new DCU Studios plan.