Box office bust: 'Black Adam' faces theatrical losses

'Black Adam' was hardly a hero in its box office run, generating only $387 million overall after seven weeks on the big screen.

That might seem like a lot of currency, especially in times of COVID where movies of all shapes and sizes are struggling to reach pre-pandemic box office receipts. But "Black Adam," a comic book adventure starring Dwayne Johnson as a villain who once promised to change the "hierarchy of power" in the Warner Bros. universe. DC, was not cheap, costing $195 million to produce. And a big-budget movie helmed by Johnson — one of the world's biggest movie stars, who plays off type here as a murderous antihero — requires a global marketing spend of $100 million, according to reports. knowledgeable people. Insiders at Warner Bros. push back, saying COVID-related box office limitations led the studio to cut the global ad campaign to $80 million.

As a result, the film needed to earn around $600 million worldwide to break even and exceed that high benchmark amount to make a profit, according to sources close to finance. Still, box office pundits believe "Black Adam" will stagnate with less than $400 million worldwide, which is problematic since movie theater owners can keep about half of those sales. Now the film stands to lose $50 million to $100 million in its theatrical release, according to estimates from insiders as well as rival executives with knowledge of similar productions. Sources from Warner Bros. dispute those numbers, saying the film will break even at $400 million. When the film was commissioned, it was estimated to break even at $450 million, but that figure has dropped given the idiosyncrasies of the new home entertainment landscape, in which “Black Adam” has outperformed projections. They also argue that these ancillary revenue streams have become more profitable with shorter theatrical windows. Thanks to pandemic-era concessions, movies hit home entertainment platforms in 33 days instead of 75, reducing the money needed to jump-start marketing campaigns for a digital launch. With ancillary revenue, sources at Warner Bros. say the movie is about to go black.

In any case, "Black Adam" is not the financial winner that DC had hoped for when the film was greenlit in 2019. Theater may be just one element of profitability; there are also TV and Pay 1 deals, but box office returns dictate those downstream terms. Even with premium video-on-demand sales, which could bring in an additional $25-35 million, "Black Adam" doesn't seem to be coming out of the red by the time it lands on HBO Max.

It's not just "Black Adam" who has struggled a lot to recoup his budget in times of pandemic. Disney's "Strange World" and Pixar's "Lightyear," director David O. Russell's star-studded period piece "Amsterdam," and Lionsgate's disaster thriller "Moonfall" were other big-budget properties that didn't managed to generate profits in theaters. Even though COVID cases are declining and normal life is bouncing back, the movie theater business hasn't been able to regain its footing. This has been a huge problem for big-budget films that depend on inordinate attendance.

'Black Adam' hit theaters in late October with $67 million, a solid debut but little spectacular for a comic book tentpole. But unlike other standalone movies set in the DC Universe, like 2018's "Aquaman" (which opened to $67.8 million) and "Shazam!" from 2019. (which debuted at $53.5 million), this superhero origin story didn't have the kind of legs it needed to justify its outsized budget. Mixed reviews (it holds 43% on Rotten Tomatoes) and its "B+" CinemaScore haven't moved the needle in terms of word of mouth, so the film has struggled to expand its appeal beyond comic book fans. So far, it has generated $165 million in North America and $219 million internationally. Like most Hollywood films, the overseas box office was limited because they could not be released in China or Russia, two major markets.

In comparison, "Aquaman" managed to earn $335 million in North America, and well while "Shazam" ended its theatrical run with $140 million domestically, it cost $100 million to produce – about half of "Black Adam". Other pandemic-era DC properties include "...