It is not the kind of start that James Gunn and Peter Safran wanted for DC Studios. Granted, neither were around when the movie was produced, but the duo will still bear the burden of recouping what some insiders suggest is a sizable loss. Black Adam had a good box office run, earning $387 million globally in seven weeks, but it is not even close to breaking even. The Dwayne Johnson-led movie had a production cost of around $195 million according to sources. To top it off, the big-budget film, with arguably one of the biggest Hollywood stars, still required a hefty $100 million in marketing according to an industry insider. However, another source within Warner Bros. has said that $100 million in marketing expenses is too high, since the scale of most advertising campaigns have been dialed down since the COVID pandemic. The source revealed that the actual marketing cost may be closer to $80 million. Because box office revenue is split between the movie company and theater owners, Black Adam needs to earn around $600 million just to break even. However, industry experts expect that the film will not even reach the $400 million mark.
♬ Black Adam - Producergjeff { “@context”: “https://schema.org”, “@type”: “VideoObject”, “name”: “Black Adam could lose $100M from theatrical release”, “description”: “The Dwayne Johnson-led superhero flick is in danger of becoming a box office bust.”, “thumbnailUrl”: [ “https://p16-sign-sg.tiktokcdn.com/obj/tos-alisg-p-0037/a0d91545eae14845a30aa9aeb446822d_1670413749?x-expires=1670436000&x-signature=J6yXXUbXuhaIm36bjpKB0jZzp0M%3D” ], “uploadDate”: “2022-12-6”, “duration”: “PT32S”, “contentUrl”: “https://www.tiktok.com/@xfire.com/video/7174372349775465730", “embedUrl”: "” } Warner Bros. stands to lose $50 to $100 million at the end of its theatrical, run according to experts. Sources inside the studio dispute this and state that the movie will break even at $400 million, however. Initial break-even estimates for the film were at $450 million, but the inclusion of home entertainment has reduced that amount significantly. Black Adam is not the blockbuster hit that Warner Bros envisioned when it first commissioned the project. The superhero flick was number one for three weeks before being dethroned by Disney’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, which earned as much as Black Adam’s entire theatrical run in just three days. Warner Bros. will now look towards other sources of revenue such as video-on-demand and streaming services to turn a profit for the movie. While Black Adam did initially do well in those channels, it may still be a tall order to turn a profit by the end of the year. With its dismal performance, the future of Black Adam is in jeopardy. Johnson has been vocal about wanting a sequel for Black Adam but it’s likely to be hard to sell a sequel considering the performance of the first movie. It will be fascinating to observe how Warner Bros. and the newly formed DC Studios will handle such a significant loss. We’ll keep you updated.
