Dwayne Johnson, popularly known as The Rock is one of the most successful and influential stars in Hollywood. After leaving behind the Fast & Furious franchise, Dwayne associated with the DC Universe to make a superhero film based on the DC Comics character of the same name.
The film released in 2022 had a big reception with a $67 million opening at the box office, however as it failed to gross over $400 million, it was considered a flop. In the interview with Kevin Hart for his Peacock show Hart to Heart, Dwayne recently opened up about the discontinuation of Black Adam 2 by the DC Studios.
He revealed that the film was dropped right after the studio changed its leadership to Peter Safran and James Gunn. When asked why the sequel of the film got canceled, Dwayne shared that the superhero blockbuster “got caught in a vortex of new leadership.” He shared it was pretty confusing for him as the film did well with its opening, which was the best of Dwayne’s career.
Kevin Hart in the recent episode invited Dwayne as a guest on his Peacock show Hart to heart, where Dwayne revealed how much he was fascinated by the character and the events referring to its sequel cancellation by DC Studios.
Dwayne also blamed China for the poor performance of Black Adam as it cost them over $100 million at the box office. “It will be one of the biggest mysteries, not just for me but also throughout the business because that’s a Kevin question. As it was the biggest opening of my career. And China didn’t release it which could have added 100 or maybe 200 more million dollars,” he added.
Dwayne Johnson’s Comment on the Cancellation of Black Adam 2
Black Adam started as a project to launch a new era of films within the Warner Bros. DC Universe. It was planned to include multiple films including Henry Cavill’s return as the Superman and the ultimate faceoff between the Black Adam and Superman.
However, as the leadership changed in the DC Studios, everything surrounding the project changed and the sequel to Black Adam was canceled. Dwayne Johnson shared his opinion on the subject, saying “Black Adam got caught in a vortex of new leadership.”
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He further added, “There were so many leadership changes. Anytime you have a publicly traded company, and you have all those leadership changes, you have people coming in who, creatively and fiscally, will make decisions that you may disagree with.”
Irrespective of Dwayne’s statement on Black Adam’s success, it performed moderately at the box office, especially for a superhero film. The opening did well with $67 million at the box office, however as it couldn’t gross over $400 million, it failed to make back the total cost of production and marketing.
The Rock shared that even though his character would not feature in the DC studies, his production company, Seven Bucks would keep working with the hope that the most valuable way to bring back Black Adam relies on future DC multiverse chapters.