New Sci-Fi Masterpiece Quickly Defeats Dwayne Johnson’s Franchise-Ending Superhero Bomb

Remember when Dwayne Johnson went on social media and posted “proof” that Black Adam wasn’t a flop? This happened after it was reported that the superhero movie was poised to lose hundreds of millions of dollars for Warner Bros. despite being positioned as the start of a new era. In fairness, the career that Johnson had planned for himself was on the line, and he needed Black Adam to be a hit. He’d even gone on the record to declare that Black Adam would be the bedrock for the now-defunct DC Extended Universe over the next several years. But that was not to be; the franchise was rebooted by James Gunn and Peter Safran, and Black Adam is no longer in the picture.

The movie was years in the making, with Johnson being attached to play the anti-hero for over a decade. He finally pulled the trigger by reuniting with his Jungle Cruise director, Jaume Collet-Serra, at the helm; the movie was eventually released in 2022. However, extensive reshoots pushed the budget towards a reported $260 million. The movie opened to poor reviews, another fact that Johnson tried to mask by highlighting the film’s audience rating of 87% on Rotten Tomatoes. Black Adam‘s critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes sits at 39%, with a consensus that reads, “Black Adam may end up pointing the way to an exciting future for DC films, but as a standalone experience, it’s a wildly uneven letdown.”

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Here’s How Much ‘Black Adam’ Ultimately Grossed

Now that some years have passed and Johnson has had bigger box-office disappointments, it seems clear that Black Adam didn’t live up to expectations. The movie’s entire $168 million domestic gross was overtaken by Ryan Gosling‘s Project Hail Mary in under two weeks. Directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, Project Hail Mary is the blockbuster of the year so far, having grossed more than $300 million against a reported budget of $200 million. This coming weekend, the sci-fi sensation should be able to pass the $400 million mark worldwide, overtaking the lifetime gross of Denis Villeneuve‘s Dune. The film’s 95% critics’ score and 96% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes suggest that it’ll continue raking in the cash for a while, as audiences return for seconds and thirds. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.

Release Date

March 20, 2026

Runtime

156 Minutes

Director

Christopher Miller, Phil Lord

Writers

Drew Goddard, Andy Weir

Producers

Ryan Gosling, Amy Pascal, Andy Weir, Aditya Sood, Christopher Miller, Phil Lord, Rachel O’Connor