Black Adam holds rock-solid against stiff, spooky competition for second week atop weekend box office

Lester Fabian Brathwaite
·2 min read
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Even at the height of Spooky Season, movie audiences chose thrills over chills, with Dwayne Johnson's Black Adam holding onto the top spot at the box office for a second week in a row with $27.7 million, according to Comscore.

The anti-hero tale features the worst kept superhero secret since No Way Home's Spider-Menage à trois, with a cameo from Superman himself, Henry Cavill, which no doubt sparked additional interest in the otherwise lesser-known character.

Dwayne Johnson as Black Adam
Dwayne Johnson as Black Adam

Warner Bros. Pictures Dwayne Johnson's 'Black Adam'

"It's one of those things which we shot in secret in the U.K., and everyone amazingly kept quiet about it," Cavill said of his guest appearance on Friday's Live With Kelly & Ryan. "We were at a studio, so it was all locked down. No one gets in."

With its take from this weekend, Black Adam's total gross so far is projected at just over $111 million, $250 million worldwide. While certainly nothing to sneeze at, those kinds of numbers are relatively low for superhero fare, at least compared to the Marvel machine. But Black Adam also had to contend with lukewarm reviews in addition to its main character's lack of notoriety.

No Way Home ended up grossing more than $1 billion, but by this point, who hasn't heard of Spider-Man? Black Adam's got his work cut out for him, even with a little Kryptonian assistance.

Proving that a good, old-fashioned, banter-filled rom com with two big movie stars still has a place in theaters, the Julia Roberts-George Clooney starring Ticket to Paradise brought in another $10 million for its second week at No. 2, bringing its domestic total to $33.7 million. The movie is projected to have legs in the weeks to come thanks to its two leads and the familiar comfort that only romantic comedies can provide.

Halloween Ends
Halloween Ends

Ryan Green/Universal Pictures 'Halloween Ends' nabs killer debut at the box office

Pray for the Devil opened at No. 3 this weekend with $7 million, one of three horror films in the top 5, meaning audiences liked to spread their scares around and had plenty of options to do so. Other films giving the box office a good fright included the hit psychological horror/thriller Smile, coming in fourth place with $5 million in its fifth weekend, bringing its total to $92.4 million.

Jamie Lee Curtis' umpteenth time facing Michael Myers in Halloween Ends kept audiences up at night with $3.8 million in its third week of release, for a total of $60.3 million — good enough for fifth place this scary cinematic weekend.

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