Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s long-awaited film Black Adam was a huge hit with fans on its opening weekend, earning $67 million in domestic box office sales and taking the No. 1 spot on the film chart.
The impressive box office figure represents the former professional wrestler’s largest domestic opening in his film career as a lead actor, according to Deadline.
“The success of Black Adam is truly a dream come true. We’ve been working towards this family goal here at Seven Bucks for 15 years, applying every bit of experience we’ve acquired over the years to help bring this project to life,” said Hiram Garcia, who produced the superhero film and is president of the production for Johnson’s Seven Bucks production company.
“So, to be here now seeing how our hard work has been paid off with the biggest opening of our careers is an incredible feeling,” he added.
DC Comics fans have been waiting since 2014 to see Johnson, 50, in the big-screen version of Black Adam, The Los Angeles Times reports. Warner Bros. initially planned to launch the character, also known as Teth-Adam, with rival superhero Shazam. But the film Shazam! opened in 2019 without Black Adam, whose powers include flight and superhuman strength.
Johnson told Vanity Fair that, although Shazam and Black Adam have a shared history in the comics, he didn’t care much for how the script presented his character.
“When the first draft of the movie came to us, it was a combination of Black Adam and Shazam: Two origin stories in one movie,” Johnson told the magazine. “Now that was the goal — so it wasn’t a complete surprise. But when I read that, I just knew in my gut, ‘We can’t make this movie like this. We would be doing Black Adam an incredible disservice.’ It would’ve been fine for Shazam to have two origin stories converge in one movie, but not good for Black Adam.”
After showcasing his talents in the ring for WWE, Johnson pivoted to Hollywood, where he found huge success. He has appeared in more than 40 films, including several in the star-studded franchise Fast & Furious.
Source: BET+