Last night, news broke that Dwayne Johnson will not be part of the DCU as Black Adam. While the actor left the door open for a possible return to the "multiverse" down the line, it's becoming increasingly obvious that this franchise is over (meaning The Rock might have to at least consider being part of an ensemble or Shazam! crossover if he hopes to play the anti-hero again).
In The Hollywood Reporter's piece about Johnson's departure, it's revealed that Black Adam was "inordinately expensive." Greenlit with a $190 million budget, costs ended up ballooning to a massive $260 million, making it one of the priciest DC Comics adaptations ever made.
How did that happen?
According to the trade, a costly round of 20-day reshoots was a major contributing factor. While additional photography is the norm for blockbusters like this one, these came after a poor test screening. Henry Cavill shot his Superman return during reshoots, of course, and it's clear now he was added primarily to drive up interest in a movie that was shaping up to be bad.
These details make an even greater mockery out of Deadline's recent report that Black Adam will, in fact, turn a profit. In information fed to the trade by Johnson, it was said the movie had a $195 million production cost with a marketing spend of $80 million - $100 million.
That math led them to conclude it would turn a profit of $52 million - $72 million, but taking this new production figure into account, Black Adam at best turned a $7 million profit and, at worst, lost $13 million. Numbers like that don't lead to sequels so even without the formation of DC Studios, it would have been bonkers for Warner Bros. to greenlight any sort of follow-up.
Are you disappointed to see the Black Adam franchise reach its end?
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