Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson has starred in his fair share of box office hits over the years, with the pro wrestler turned actor often hailed as the Fast & Furious franchise's saviour, for example. Fans have waited years for Johnson to star in a superhero movie, and it appears building the anticipation for his DCEU debut in Black Adam will pay off at the box office in a big way.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the latest tracking suggests the DC Comics adaptation will give Johnson the biggest box office opening of his career with a solid $70 million - $75 million debut in North America.
Some believe it could go even higher, with many convinced it could show similar legs to Venom, a movie that debuted to $80 million back in 2018. That would go on to be a huge hit at the global box office with over $850 million, and Warner Bros. is no doubt hoping Black Adam can find similar levels of success.
With so many changes currently taking place at Warner Bros. Discovery, Black Adam needs to succeed if the character has any sort of future in the DCEU. No matter what changes come next, if this movie is a massive hit, the anti-hero will almost certainly be part of David Zaslav's supposed 10-year plan.
Johnson has been using his star power and social media presence to build hype for Black Adam and it feels like not even potentially negative reviews will derail the movie at this stage (they certainly didn't hurt Venom).
Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra (Jungle Cruise), Black Adam picks up nearly 5,000 years after the title character was bestowed with the almighty powers of the ancient gods - and imprisoned just as quickly. When Black Adam (Johnson) is freed from his earthly tomb, he's ready to unleash his unique form of justice on the modern world.
Johnson stars alongside Aldis Hodge (One Night in Miami) as Hawkman, Noah Centineo (To All the Boys I've Loved Before) as Atom Smasher, Sarah Shahi (Sex/Life) as Adrianna, Marwan Kenzari (Murder on the Orient Express) as Ishmael, Quintessa Swindell (Trinkets) as Cyclone, Bodhi Sabongui (A Million Little Things) as Amon, and Pierce Brosnan (James Bond) as Dr. Fate.
Black Adam will electrify audiences in theaters when it's released on October 21, later this year!