Black Adam Gives Dwayne Johnson His Biggest Domestic Box Office Opening as a Leading Man

Tommy McArdle
·3 min read
3
Dwayne Johnson as Black Adam
Dwayne Johnson as Black Adam

Warner Bros. Pictures

Dwayne Johnson's new movie Black Adam is soaring him to new career box office heights.

On Monday, multiple outlets reported that Black Adam, which stars the 50-year-old actor as an enslaved man who is reborn with the magical powers of gods, won the domestic box office in its opening weekend with $67 million to show for its first weekend in U.S. theaters.

That number makes for the largest domestic box office opening of Johnson's career outside of films in the main Fast & Furious series, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Johnson's previous biggest domestic box office opener as a leading man was in 2019's Fast & Furious spinoff Hobbes & Shaw, which made $60 million in its first weekend in theaters, according to THR.

Black Adam made $73 million in its opening weekend overseas, giving it a global box office opening of $140 million.

RELATED: Black Adam Reviews Say Dwayne Johnson Superhero Movie Is 'Predictable' Yet 'Rollicking Good Time'

Johnson's superhero passion project — which he's been working to bring to the big screen for 15 years — received somewhat mixed reviews.

DWAYNE JOHNSON as Black Adam in New Line Cinema’s action adventure “BLACK ADAM,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release.
DWAYNE JOHNSON as Black Adam in New Line Cinema’s action adventure “BLACK ADAM,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release.

Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures Dwayne Johnson in Black Adam (2022)

For Empire magazine, Helen O'Hara wrote that the movie is "sometimes a mess, but it's a generally entertaining one." But, since the PG-13 movie is "mixing family-film tropes with a protagonist who straight-up murders people," there's a "weird contradiction" at play, added O'Hara: The filmmakers "want edge, but without alienating family audiences. So you get massive action scenes without any obvious civilian casualties, and godlike powers without consequence."

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The Hollywood Reporter's John DeFore said Black Adam is "predictable," and that most moviegoers will find it to be "another fine-not-great night of spandex mayhem and franchises hoping to be born."

DeFore added that Johnson "creates a magnetic antihero" with the title character — and other critics weighed in on the movie star's performance. Kirsten Acuna wrote for Insider that Johnson "clearly understands this character, is believable in the role, and commands the screen every second he's on it."

Dwayne Johnson The Rock
Dwayne Johnson The Rock

Tristan Fewings/Getty

"Unfortunately, his performance is one of the film's few highlights other than a shocking mid-credits reveal," added Acuna.

RELATED: Everything to Know About DC Film's Black Adam

Aside from Johnson as Black Adam, the film's cast includes  Pierce Brosnan as Doctor Fate, Sarah Shahi as Adrianna Tomaz (the wife of Black Adam), Noah Centineo as Al Rothstein, Aldis Hodge as Carter Hall (Hawkman), Quintessa Swindell as Maxine Hunkel (Cyclone) and Odelya Halevi as Shiruta.

Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra, the superhero film is based on DC Comics' anti-hero of the same name. It comes as the 11th film in the DC Extended Universe and is a spinoff of Shazam! — which is getting a sequel, Shazam! The Fury Of The Gods.

Black Adam is in theaters now.