The combined powers of Dwayne Johnson, the DCEU, and an audience starved of blockbuster content meant that Black Adam bowed with an expectation smashing $67 million at the domestic box-office and a worldwide haul of $140 million.
A passion project for Johnson, Black Adam proved to be worth the 15-year wait by landing the actor the biggest leading-man debut of his film career, as well as defying a 39% Rotten Tomatoes rating and industry expectations that had the anti-hero’s origin movie pegged for an opening below $60 million mark. With a 90% audience rating, cinema chains have reported a large number of walk-ins for the movie, with some even saying that the estimated gross could be even higher once Sunday’s calculations are finalised.
SEE ALSO: Read our Black Adam review here
Black Adam wasn’t the only box-office success story of the weekend, with Universal’s counter-programming approach paying dividends with the already lucrative George Clooney and Julia Roberts comedy Ticket to Paradise opening strong. Having grossed over $75 million from international territories, the Ol Parker directed film also exceeded the $12M predictions to earn $16.34 million over the three-day frame, and will take its worldwide cume beyond $100 million during the week, with the hope it will play long into the fall.
One film without legs, slumped in the corner like one of Michael Myers’ countless victims over a 44-year killing spree, was Halloween Ends, which died on its arse during its sophomore frame with just $8 million. That’s an 80% drop for David Gordon Green’s trilogy closer, which appears to be haemorrhaging audience numbers based on poor word-of-mouth, and will limp towards its titular holiday season with disappointingly low returns. Halloween Ends has still made $82 million worldwide, from a budget of $30 million, and has the built in caveat of being available to stream on Peacock, but so much more was expected from Laurie Strode’s swansong.
SEE ALSO: Read our Halloween Ends review here
You can check out all of the decimal points and dollar signs, which includes the continued success of Smile ($8.4M, $84M) and the impressive prestige performances of The Banshees of Inisherin and Tár by heading over to Box Office Mojo.
Nearly 5,000 years after he was bestowed with the almighty powers of the ancient gods—and imprisoned just as quickly—Black Adam (Johnson) is freed from his earthly tomb, ready to unleash his unique form of justice on the modern world.
Black Adam is directed by Jaume Collet-Serra (Jungle Cruise) and sees Dwayne Johnson starring alongside Noah Centineo as Atom Smasher, Aldis Hodge as Hawkman, Quintessa Swindell as Cyclone, Pierce Brosnan as Doctor Fate, Sarah Shahi as Adrianna, Marwan Kenzari as Ishmael, Bodhi Sabongui as Amon and Viola Davis as Amanda Waller.
Black Adam is in cinemas now.
