Black Adam box office collection: Dwayne Johnson’s DC film makes $67 million in domestic debut

With $67 million in its domestic opening, Dwayne Johnson's superhero adventure Black Adam, which features a villain who vows to alter the "system of power" in the DC world, dominates the box office.

The Universal romance comedy Ticket to Paradise, which debuted in 3,543 theatres this weekend and finished in second place with a better-than-expected $16.3 million, was easily defeated by the Warner Bros. comic book film.

Before the weekend, Black Adam was expected to debut at $62 million while playing in 4,350 theatres, but expectations had to be revised because Saturday and Sunday ticket sales were better than expected.

Black Adam began its international run with $73 million from 76 markets, totalling $140 million worldwide.

“As a spin-off, this is a strong opening,” David A Gross, who runs the movie consulting firm Franchise Entertainment Research was quoted as saying. “Black Adam should do well abroad and be comfortably profitable.”

The $67 million opening for Black Adam isn't particularly impressive for a superhero origin story, but it compares favourably to its fellow DC movie Aquaman ($67.8 million) from 2018 and to 2019's Shazam! ($53.5 million), both of which managed to stay in theatres long enough to justify the hundreds of millions of dollars that Warner Bros. invested in their production.

However, Black Adam made considerably less money than 2018's Venom, which also used a lesser-known comic book character and opened to $80 million despite negative reviews.

With the added advantage of playing during the holidays, Aquaman, starring Jason Momoa, another towering figure, finished its theatrical run with a respectable $335 million domestically and $1 billion globally.

Although Black Adam isn't anticipated to have that type of multiple, it will also need to continue showing on theatre screens for a while because it cost a staggering $195 million before marketing expenses.

Black Adam joins The Batman, Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, Elvis, DC League of Super-Pets, and Don't Worry Darling among Warner Bros. movies that have debuted in the top spot at the domestic box office this year.

Notably, Black Adam is the first movie to debut above $50 million since Thor: Love and Thunder in July, which is good news for movie theatres. This is the first time since mid-July that the box office as a whole has exceeded $100 million in a single weekend.

Julia Roberts and George Clooney's charm worked well together to make Ticket to Paradise a successful counterpoint to Black Adam. That wasn't a given, even with Roberts and Clooney in the lead roles, considering the difficulties romantic comedies face at the box office.

It didn't even come close to matching the $30 million opening of The Lost City, a two-hander starring Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum, but that movie was able to broaden its appeal by relying heavily on action and explosions, at least when compared to the conventional rom-com.

Ticket to Paradise stands as one of the better starts for meet-cute stories this year, beating Bros ($4.8 million) and Marry Me ($7.9 million, while landing simultaneously on Peacock).