UPDATE, Saturday AM: Black Adam‘s now expected opening of $60M-$62M by many measures is a solid start, and is the best domestic debut for Dwayne Johnson outside of an ensemble movie (Mummy Returns at a $68M debut was a Brendan Fraser vehicle back in 2001). Heck, Black Adam looks to even beat the Fast & Furious spinoff Hobbs and Shaw in which Johnson costarred with Jason Statham, that pic opening to $60.03M.
As we already told you, Friday repped the Rock’s Best Opening Day in a solo star vehicle, now at $26.8M. Black Adam, and Universal counterprogramming older-demo, female-skewing George Clooney-Julia Roberts romantic comedy Ticket to Paradise, which is overperforming with a $16M opening (it was suppose to do $12M) are pushing weekend tickets sales to $109.5M, the first time that the weekend box office has spilled over $100M since July 22-24, when Nope opened to No. 1 and all titles grossed $124M. In addition, there’s a great diverse turnout of audiences for Black Adam, with 29% Black, 26% Hispanic, 25% Caucasian and 13% Asian. There’s nothing to complain about here, particularly on the exhibition side, as there’s traffic in theaters after a dull spell sans mass-appealing product during this part of the eased pandemic.
Also working in the favor of Black Adam is that audiences aren’t entirely shrugging it a B+ (the same grade as DC’s other darker IPs, The Suicide Squad movies), 4 stars from general audiences, and 90% from kids under 12 on Comscore/Screen Engine’s PostTrak and 89% on the Rotten Tomatoes audience meter. This despite the fact that critics found Black Adam entirely confusing, now at 41% on Rotten Tomatoes.
There is an argument to be made that Black Adam is off its early $70M projection when it first hit tracking, and that Warner Bros.’ DC is still opening-gross wise in the shadow of Marvel’s $100M streak track record (DC’s last movie, Matt Reeves’ reboot of The Batman, blasted off to $134M). In regards to whether Black Adam should have been more mass-appealing (this despite the bullhorn of Johnson speaking directly to his fans on social media, which count 420M per RelishMix), or have higher audience scores like a Marvel movie, that’s for New Line, future DC, and Seven Bucks executives to take under consideration should they move forward with a sequel (and this movie from its epilogue, which features another starry DC character, really wants one). Consider, as Kevin Feige says when it comes to making movies over at Disney, how to “plus-it”.
However, realize that Black Adam is a deeper DC universe character, and such IPs rarely even approach a $100M opening figure. Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy was an anomaly at $94.3M and DC’s Shazam! opened to $53.5M. On paper, at $200M, Black Adam cost just as much as Hobbs and Shaw, which actually turned an $84M profit after all ancillaries. Realize, though, that movie banked $201M in China after a near $95M opening that was 21 days after the US. Black Adam is still waiting on a China date. Furthermore, at a $60M-$62M domestic start, Black Adam is at the top of Johnson’s box office records, so strategically from a financial planning angle, you can’t whine about the performance of this film. This is a great start to move forward with a franchise.
Black Adam drew 65% guys, 35% women, and the movie got its best grades with the latter, who scored it at 83%. Men over 25 led in attendance at 39%, followed by men under 25 (26%), women over 25 (22% who graded it 84%), and women under 25 (13% at 82%). Of those polled by PostTrak, 44% came because it was a Johnson movie, 39% because it was a superhero film, while 32% said it was because it’s part of a franchise they liked, which is the DC series. In CinemaScore exits, the under 35 demo at 60% gave it a B, while the over 35 who showed up at 40% gave Black Adam an A-.
No surprise here to find that Imax and PLF screens are contributing a great 35% of Black Adam‘s gross so far. The Johnson DC pic played best in the West and South, where six of the top ten runs and 15 of the top 20 runs came from.
RelishMix saw the fruits of the Warner Bros marketing machine’s labor ahead of opening, the studio having promoted this DC title since the fall of 2020, with Black Adam having a 1.3 billion social media reach from Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram and TikTok. Johnson’s 420M fans are included in that. YouTube viral reposting video rate is exceptional at 93:1 and 460M views for earned/studio owned views — plus another 98M views on TikTok with the stunning social stat coming from 696M Instagram views on The Rock’s person page which has 342M fans.
Among the pic’s upbeat chatter on social, RelishMix notes, “The overall tone of excitement for this new franchise in the DCU are filled with expectations of future interactions with Batman, Superman, Aquaman and Shazam and the Justice League and how The Rock is a perfect fit for the role and his ‘awesome suit’. Pierce Brosnan is drawing strong attention for his role as Dr. Fate.”
Johnson working overtime with surprise appearances at theaters this weekend. The ultimate pro:
Universal has played it smart with Ticket to Paradise, with the pic set to $96M worldwide after its US/Canada opening this weekend. A divide here, of course, between critics who aren’t wowed at 56%, and the 71% skewing-female audiences who gave it an A- CinemaScore along with solid PostTrak ratings of 81% and 65%. Eighty percent of the audience was over 25, 61% over 35 and 44% over 45 years old. Diversity demos were 61% White, 22% Latino, 6% Black, & 11% Asian/Other. The movie played best in the Midwest and Southeast. The top gross came from Boca Raton, and there are no NYC theaters in the top 10 until Lincoln Square, which ranks 11th. We don’t usually see that.
Different type of movie, but Ticket to Paradise is just ahead of the Clooney-Roberts thriller combo, Money Monster, which opened to $14.7M. There’s been few adult-skewing romantic comedies at the box office, and the start here for Ticket to Paradise bests that of Universal’s pre-pandemic Last Christmas ($11.7M), and even Marry Me ($7.9M). But that latter Jennifer Lopez-Owen Wilson pic was slowed by a day-and-date on Peacock.
United Artists Releasing and Eon’s Till went to 104 runs in 28 markets and had some good plays in Chicago, Dallas, Atlanta, St. Louis Baltimore, NYC and LA before going wide next weekend. $312k weekend outlook, +29% for a $602K ten-day run off a near 100% on Rotten Tomatoes.
1.) Black Adam (NL) 4,402 theaters, Fri $26.8M, 3-day $60M-$62M/Wk 1
2.) Ticket to Paradise (Uni) 3,543 theaters, Fri $6.4M/3-day $16M/Wk 1
3.) Smile (Par) 3,296 (-316) theaters, Fri $2.57M (-32%) 3-day $8.5M (-32%), 3-day $84.5M/Wk 4
4.) Halloween Ends (Uni) 3,901 theaters, Fri $2.47M (-88%), 3-day $8M (-80%)/Total: $54.1M/ Wk 2
5.) Lyle, Lyle Crocodile (Sony) 3,536 (-814) theaters, Fri $1.18M (-42%), 3-day $4.4M (-39%)/Total: $28.9M/Wk 3
6.) Terrifier 2 (Iconic) 755 (+55) theaters, Fri $545,5K (+118%), 3-day $2.1M, Total $5.4M/Wk 3
7.) The Woman King (Sony) 1,858 (-707) theaters Fri $520K (-49%), 3-day $1.875M (-49%)/Total $62.8M/Wk 6
8.) Don’t Worry Darling (NL/WB), 1,306 (-1,428) theaters, Fri $285K (-62%), 3-day $895K (-60%)/Total $44.2M/ Wk 5
9.) Amsterdam (Dis) 1,750 theaters (-1,255), Fri $257K (-71%), 3-day $807K(-72%)/Total: $13.9M/Wk 3
10.) Triangle of Sadness (NEON) 280 (+249) theaters, Fri, $215K (+63%), 3-day $645K/Total $1.4M/Wk 3
UPDATE, Friday late afternoon: We are hearing from sources that Black Adam is set to make $25 million on Friday, which would easily be the best opening day for Dwayne Johnson among his solo projects. That list includes Hobbs & Shaw ($23.6M), Mummy Returns ($23.1M) Jumanji: Next Level ($19.7M) and San Andreas ($18.1M). Today’s $25M includes last night’s $7.6M in preview screenings.
A $25M first day currently puts the New Line/DC movie at a $60M start. Families could put this higher tomorrow; we’ll see. Hobbs & Shaw opened to $60M during the first weekend of August 2019. Black Adam is also 16% behind F9 ($29.9M), which got to a $70M opening. Triple note: Johnson didn’t star in F9, however, it’s being used as a comp. Black Adam is booked at 4,402 theaters.
Universal owns the second and third spots, respectively, during this domestic box office frame with the George Clooney-Julia Roberts rom-com Ticket to Paradise ($5.5M Friday, $13.7M opening at 3,543 theaters) and the second weekend of Halloween Ends ($2.7M Friday, off 87%, good for $8.7M at 3,901 theaters, -78%; running total $54.8M).
The fourth weekend of Paramount horror movie Smile is fourth at 3,296 theaters. Its Friday is at $2.7M, -30%, a three-day total of $8.9M, -29%, and a running total of $84.8M.
Sony’s third weekend of Lyle, Lyle Crocodile at 3,536 theaters is seeing a Friday of $1.3M, -35%; a 3-day of $4.8M, -35%; and a running total of $29.3M.
PREVIOUSLY, Friday AM: The New Line-DC Dwayne Johnson movie Black Adam racked up $7.6 million in previews at 3,500 locations Thursday, a figure that beats the superstar’s previous preview nights for Fast and Furious 6 ($7.5M), Hobbs and Shaw ($5.8M), Jumanji: The Next Level ($4.7M), San Andreas ($3.1M) and Rampage ($2.4M). This is at least a very good start for Black Adam. Fans always come out on Thursday night; let’s hope it keeps up.
While critics aren’t fans at 43% Rotten, the audience score on Rotten Tomatoes is much better at 88%. Previews began yesterday at 3 p.m.
Other comps Black Adam is besting so far include F9 ($7.1M, which Johnson didn’t star in), Ant-Man ($6.4M), Shazam! ($5.9M) and No Time to Die ($5.6M). F9 opened to $70 million in May 2021, with the rest of those comps debuting in the $50M range.
The latest tracking for Black Adam is $60M-plus for its first frame, cooling down from its $70M number when it first arrived on tracking. The question remains how critic-proof this movie can be. In the new world order of box office at this stage of the pandemic, tentpoles have proved to be critic proof, i.e., Jurassic World Dominion wasn’t slowed by a 29% on Rotten Tomatoes and opened to $145M. There hasn’t been anything as glossy, star-studded and tentpole-y like Black Adam since Sony’s Bullet Train, which opened to $30M during the first weekend of August. Audiences are starving, and hopefully for the sake of exhibition and Warner Bros, won’t scrutinize this new DC superhero too severely before making a decision to go to the movies this weekend.
As is standard with Johnson, the overseas prospects for Black Adam are brighter than domestic; industry outlook for a global start this weekend is around $135M.
Johnson’s two highest preview nights were on films in which he was part of an ensemble: Furious 7 ($15.8M) and Fate of the Furious ($10.4M).
Universal meanwhile held previews for its George Clooney-Julia Roberts romantic comedy Ticket to Paradise, which made $1.1M at 3,000 theaters off showtimes that began at 5 p.m. The studio is hoping for around $12M. The film from Working Title, Smokehouse and Red Om Films has already bagged close to $73M from 75 offshore markets, where it was No. 1 in 45 of those including Brazil, Germany, Italy, Spain and UK.
Universal had the No. 1 movie of the week with Blumhouse/Miramax’s Halloween Ends, also available on Peacock, which did $46.1M at 3,901 theaters. Pic is expected to decline severely due to its avail on the streamer, in the 70% range. It made $1.02M on Thursday, and was beat by Paramount’s Smile which did $1.07M at 3,612. That genre movie in its third week did $17.2M, good for a running total of $76M.
Sony’s second week of Lyle, Lyle Crocodile at 4,350 did $430,000 on Thursday, $9.1M for the week and has a running total of $24.6M.
The studio’s TriStar label owned fourth with The Woman King at 2,565 theaters, a $240K Thursday, $4.9M fifth week and running cume of $61M.
Iconic Releasing’s Terrifier 2 in 700 sites did $220K yesterday, a $1.9M second week and running total of $3.4M.