Cinema flop of “Black Adam” and “Shazam 2”: Is Dwayne Johnson responsible for the DC disaster?

Dwayne Johnson is considered one of the biggest Hollywood stars of the moment because of his powerful presence and his great charisma. Thanks to his appearances in “Fast & Furious” or “GI Joe”, he was even for a while the secret weapon of choice to help film series to (even greater) success – franchise Viagra they call Hollywood. But the attempt to hoist the DC Universe on the path to success with Johnson as Black Adam can confidently be described as a failure.

Because it was heralded by Dwayne Johnson as the all-changing DC blockbuster “Black Adam“ got pretty bad reviews (1.5 out of 5 stars at FILMSTARTS) and was anything but an overwhelming success at the box office: A worldwide box office of nearly $393 million with a budget of over $200 million is simply far too little.

But that’s apparently just the tip of the iceberg, according to a new report Johnson not only torpedoed his own film’s chances of success, but would “Shazam 2: Anger of the Godsalso brought down. This is what the well-connected Hollywood insiders Scott Mendelssohn and Umberto Gonzalez report in an article for the American industry magazine . The new DC movie got off to an extremely disappointing start at the box office and should gross even less than “Black Adam” or the first “Shazam!”.

The Superman problem

According to Mendelssohn and Gonzalez the crux of the problem is Johnson’s comeback, which Johnson pushed through against some resistance Henry Cavill as Superman in Black Adam’s post-credits scene, which famously went nowhere. Because shortly after the theatrical release of “Black Adam” and the return of Cavill, new DC bosses Peter Safran and James Gunn announced a reboot of the DC Universe (DCU) with a new Superman.

So Johnson backed the wrong horse with Henry Cavill, but well – hindsight is always smarter. According to the sources of However, a meeting between Black Adam and Shazam would have made more sense, not only because of this, but also because the two are connected through their comic history.

So you may have alienated some of the fan base, while there never seemed to be any real interest in Black Adam vs. Superman (as the cash register shows). Whether a “Black Adam” would have worked better with Shazam instead of Superman is of course still pure speculation.

No Black Adam vs. Shazam

In any case, there was actually a credits scene planned for “Black Adam” in which the Justice Society (JSA) would have recruited Shazam. That would have fueled anticipation for Shazam 2 and a future clash between comedic nemeses Shazam and Black Adam. but loud Johnson vetoed this scene.

On the one hand, Johnson would have prevented Shazam from appearing in “Black Adam.” on the other hand he also foiled plans for JSA characters like Hawkman (Aldis Hodge) in “Anger of the Gods”.

As a result, Shazam 2 director David F. Sandberg was forced to make last-minute changes to this movie’s mid-credits scene, as he had before. cheated. So Fury Of The Gods has Emilia Harcourt (Jennifer Holland) and John Economos (Steve Agee) recruit Shazam into the JSA, which doesn’t really make much sense, strictly speaking.

Sharp allegations against Dwayne Johnson

In the article of some other insiders also speak, some of whom attack Johnson with unusual sharpness. One source is quoted as saying: “Instead of making a movie, he wants to build his own brand and create a new brand around him.”

And another insider accuses Johnson of crippling two franchises (“Black Adam” and “Shazam!”) and causing damage to DCn because he’s away from the comics and doesn’t want to play alongside other established characters.

The reaction of “Shazam” actor Zachary Levi also underlines that all these allegations against the “Black Adam” star are not completely unfounded. He posted in one Instagram story namely, a summary of The Wrap article and commented on it saying, “The truth will set you free.”