Barbie may have been the biggest movie at the box office in 2023, but in the UK, it was unable to match one of 2022's biggest superhero movie flops: Black Adam. Well, in terms of DVD sales at least.
Variety is reporting that Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's DCEU blockbuster earned the top spot on the sales charts with 80,000 units sold since its release on January 16. Barbie, on the other hand, shifted a still-impressive 66,428 units but wasn't released until October 23.
However, the Margot Robbie-led Barbie didn't even crack the top five as John Wick: Chapter 4 came in at second place, with Elvis, Top Gun: Maverick, and Oppenheimer not far behind.
In terms of Blu-ray sales, Oppenheimer was #1, with Avatar: The Way of Water, John Wick: Chapter 4, Black Adam, and Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part 1 following. Why did more people buy Black Adam on DVD? Either they don't care for superheroes in HD or wanted to go with the cheaper option.
Before writing Barbie off as a disappointment, though, it's worth noting that it actually led the UK's overall home entertainment charts (which combines Digital with physical media) and dominated with a whopping 700,000 units sold or rented.
"Come for The Rock’s pitch-perfect take on Black Adam and stay for an unmissable post-credits scene," we said in our Black Adam review. "Then, just try to forget everything else, because this brainless, brawny superhero movie is not the fresh start the DCEU desperately needs."
Despite Black Adam's success in terms of DVD sales, there are currently no plans for a sequel. The movie was a bigger hit than all of 2023's DCEU movies, but Johnson parted ways with DC Studios when it was seemingly made clear to him that James Gunn and Peter Safran had no plans for the powerful anti-hero.
Is Black Adam in your DVD collection? Let us know in the comments section.
In ancient Kahndaq, the slave Teth Adam was gifted the almighty powers of the gods. But he used those powers for vengeance and was imprisoned. Now, 5,000 years later, he is freed and once again wields his dark sense of justice onto the world. Refusing to surrender, Teth Adam is challenged by a team of modern-day heroes known as the Justice Society—Hawkman, Doctor Fate, Atom Smasher and Cyclone—who seek to return him to eternal captivity.
Dwayne Johnson stars alongside Aldis Hodge as Hawkman, Noah Centineo as Atom Smasher, Sarah Shahi, Marwan Kenzari, Quintessa Swindell as Cyclone, Mohammed Amer, Bodhi Sabongui, and Pierce Brosnan as Doctor Fate.
Black Adam is now streaming on Max and available on, you guessed it, DVD and Blu-ray.