3 Years Ago, This $393M Bomb Was the Final Nail in the DCEU’s Coffin

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At the end of the day, Black Adam isn’t the worst installment of the DCEU, but it is certainly in contention for its most average. But just why did it fail, and how swiftly did that failure signal that a transition was necessary? Let’s find out.

Why Did Black Adam Fail?

On a budget of at least $190 million and a worldwide haul of slightly less than $400 million, Black Adam lost money at the box office. This wasn’t much more than Shazam! had made three years prior, but considering how Shazam! didn’t have a big, expensive star like Johnson on the poster, it wasn’t nearly as costly a production.

There is also good reason to believe that an underperformance was expected here, too. Black Adam debuted on October 21, 2022 and it was only four days later that James Gunn was announced as the new co-chair and CEO of DC Studios alongside Peter Safran. The then upcoming DCU wasn’t announced until the end of January 2023, but it’s quite obvious that those at Warner Bros. knew the DCEU was on its way out.

Black Adam was more a last straw kind of thing than a flop so massive it can be solely and fully held responsible for the death of a cinematic universe. Man of Steel did well enough, but Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was expected to be a bigger event, so it’s not as if the DCEU started out on the strongest footing. Suicide Squad and Wonder Woman were major hits but Justice League was notoriously troubled. Aquaman saw the universe rebound, but that was really its last true win.

Black Adam‘s marketing didn’t sell it as the event Johnson clearly thought it was. Johnson saw himself as the new big lead of the whole over-arching cinematic universe, not unlike how Robert Downey Jr. was able to get butts in seats for the MCU for years (and likely will once more when Avengers: Doomsday hits theaters). And while Johnson certainly does have charisma as a star, it’s a tall order for a single actor to save what amounts to a ship that is already sinking. And, if he is, a bland movie is far from the way to kick off that tall order task.

What DCEU Movies Followed Black Adam?

image courtesy of warner bros.

With the announcement of Gunn and Safran as the new captains of the ship, the writing had already been put on the public wall that the DCEU would soon be no more. The announcement in January 2023 only confirmed it.

It’s hard for audiences to care about installments of a cinematic universe if that cinematic universe has already been marked for death (even if Gunn announced the DCU as a soft reboot, it’s still a reboot). Thus, the four final installments of the DCEU had a major uphill battle to fight, and they never really stood a chance.

Shazam! Fury of the Gods pulled in $134.1 million against about $125 million, the notorious The Flash tanked hard with $271.4 million with a price tag upwards of $220 million, and Blue Beetle made $130.8 million on $125 million. Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom managed to do a little better, but it’s debatable if $440.2 million on a $215 million budget is even break-even. And, even still, it only made about 38% the worldwide haul of its predecessor, so it was still a clear sign of the audience feeling no draw to see something that was a thing of the past even as a new release.

What did you think of Black Adam? Let us know in the comments.