• Black Adam debuts at $7.6 million at the box office.
• The Jaume Collet-Serra-directed movie has been in various stages of development for more than ten years.
• Black Adam has received mixed reviews.

Black Adam, a movie by DC Films and Warner Bros., had a $7.6 million domestic opening weekend. Black Adam has received mixed reviews.

Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs and Shaw ($5.8 million), Jumanji: The Next Level ($4.7 million), San Andreas ($3.1 million), and Rampage ($2.4 million) all performed far worse than Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs and Shaw ($7.5 million), which is a strong performance for actor Dwayne Johnson.

Black Adam began playing in previews on Thursday in about 3,500 theatres before opening to the general public on Friday in over 4,400 venues. Even with the poor reviews, the movie is still on track to gross roughly $60 million in its opening weekend, which is less than the analysts’ initial estimates of $65 million to $70 million.

The Jaume Collet-Serra-directed movie has been in various stages of development for more than ten years, a fact that marketing whiz Johnson has been hyping up on social media and at events in his signature risk-taking manner. In recent weeks, he has also hinted to a potential confrontation between the relatively unknown character Black Adam and a much more well-known one. Johnson plays a slave in the antihero movie who gains Shazam powers and transforms into the rescuer Teth-Adam. Johnson has said that the figure stands out from the crowd because of his ambiguous morals.

In contrast, the two Marvel films that were released this year made more than twice as much in their first few days of release. Thor: Love and Thunder made $143 million in its opening weekend and finished with $760 million globally, while Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness made over $187 million in its opening weekend back in May. The Batman, produced by W.B., made $134 million in its first three days, but it received much better reviews and included perhaps the top two superheroes of all time in almost every scene.

Black Adam has received mixed reviews. “Black Adam might not be the hero the DCEU needs, but it’s a refreshing adjustment for this wider world and an energizing glimpse at the possibility going ahead in this universe,” Collider’s own Ross Bonaime noted in his review.

The movie is also expected to have a significant impact on DC’s well-known “10-year plan.” It was intended for the DC Extended Universe to follow in the footsteps of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but in-house disputes and a lack of detailed planning put an end to those goals. The Suicide Squad from last year received rave reviews, but it bombed at the box office. However, that movie was made available for streaming on HBO Max on the very same day. The Flash has also faced its fair share of issues in the interim. W.B. would be looking for Johnson to lend that Midas touch to the DCEU as well. Johnson has a history of saving problematic movie franchises.

After earning more than $70 million from foreign markets over the previous few weeks, Universal’s romantic comedy Ticket to Paradise, starring George Clooney and Julia Roberts, is projected to earn roughly $15 million this week.

Quintessa Swindell, Pierce Brosnan, Noah Centineo, and Aldis Hodge also appear in Black Adam. Visit this page to watch our interview with Johnson, and follow Collider for additional news.

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