Black Adam box office earnings explained: Did Black Adam flop?

Black Adam has earned under $400 million worldwide but is it a loss or a win for the DCEU’s Man in Black?

There has been a lot of talk about Black Adam‘s box office performance in recent months. The DC Extended Universe film, starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as the titular character, has grossed over $389 million worldwide against an approximate $210 million production budget.

Now, stats like that suggest that the movie underperformed, right? In fact, a report from Variety revealed that the box office returns would cause DC/New Line Cinema to lose between $50 – $100 million.

Johnson took to social media a number of weeks ago to suggest otherwise, tweeting out a report that suggested the movie would generate a profit of $52 – $72 million. That would be good news, but more recent reports suggested that information was inaccurate.

Is Black Adam a box office bomb?

So, will Black Adam make a profit? The net profits are what New Line and DC are set to receive in earnings with the lowest projected to be at $52 million. This does not account for the PVOD earnings it will make in the future.

As it stands, Black Adam‘s advertising/marketing campaign costs, which were approximately $80 million, would have bumped up the overall budget to around $300 million. Therefore, even though it is not an outright box office disaster, the fact remains that the movie underperformed. And that could be one of the many reasons that a rumored Black Adam sequel was shelved.

The Rock has now revealed that Black Adam won’t be a part of the first chapter of James Gunn and Peter Safran’s DC Universe, signalling an end (for now) to the character’s silver screen showdowns.

Black Adam stars Dwayne Johnson, Noah Centineo, Aldis Hodge, Sarah Shahi, Quintessa Swindell and Pierce Brosnan. Jaume Collet-Serra directed from a screenplay by Adam Szykiel, Rory Haines and Sohrab Noshirvani. Johnson, Dany Garcia, Hiram Garcia and Beau Flynn produced for Seven Bucks Productions and Flynn Picture Co. Scott Sheldon serves as executive producer in association with New Line Cinema.

Black Adam is now available to watch on HBO Max.

What are your thoughts on Black Adam? Did you love it? Did you hate it? Would you like Dwayne Johnson to return as the “Man in Black” in the DCU? And what is your take on those box office returns? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!