Just when it seems that Dwayne Johnson’s Black Adam has taken all the beatings it can, along comes Antonio Banderas’ Puss In Boots to deliver one more kick to the mostly disappointing box office run of the one-time DCU savior. Puss in Boots: The Last Wish has surpassed expectations in pretty much an exact mirror of how Black Adam failed to capitalize on his debut, and now the Shrek spin-off sequel has passed the worldwide gross of Black Adam and is not done yet.
Black Adam became something of a paradox when it was released last year. A movie that should have heralded the beginning of the new DCU but instead signaled the death the old DCEU, and one that gave Dwayne Johnson his biggest box office haul, but was seen a massive under-performer for a DC project. In all, the film ended its box office run on $392 million, which put it at #14 in a list of the highest grossing movies of the year.
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish was a late 2022 arrival, and was not expected to be a big hitter. However, with a huge wave of positive reviews and word of mouth, the film clawed its way up the ladder and has so far earned $393.7 million, with the film almost certain to break $400 million in the coming week. Potentially, it could end up pushing for position 11 on the list if it can take just an additional 13 million before its theatrical run comes to an end.
What Went Wrong with Black Adam?
Black Adam in itself was not a bad Dwayne Johnson movie, it was just not a DCU movie that people really seemed to connect to. The film did receive a boost from its late in the day post-credits Superman cameo appearance, but even that didn’t seem to really ignite interest in the movie. As the only live-action DCU release of the year, the movie ended up almost taking just half of non-DCU release, The Batman.
In the weeks that followed the release, there were plenty of conflicting reports about how exactly Black Adam’s future would pan out, and with it a lot of kerfuffle about Henry Cavill’s DCU position. A short time after Cavill’s long-term return was announced, it was quickly shot down with the arrival of James Gunn and Peter Safran to the new DC Studios.
In the end, it seems that regardless of how well Black Adam did at the box office, its fate had already been sealed by behind the scenes changes within Warner Bros. Discovery. Dwayne Johnson may have felt that he had done enough to hype up the film to audiences, but it seems that on this occasion even The Rock’s cooking just wasn’t to everyone’s tastes. That being said, James Gunn has not exactly ruled out a Black Adam/Superman being told somewhere down the line, but of course the longer away that becomes, the less likely it is to happen, especially if the new DCU makes waves.