Black Adam, starring Dwayne Johnson, earned $7.6 million in previews on Thursday at 3,500 theatres, and through Thursday has rocked to $13.8M from 57 markets. Today adds the UK and Spain as overseas release continues. Topping the star’s previous preview nights for Fast and Furious 6 ($7.5M), and Hobbs and Shaw ($5.8M). For Black Adam, this is at least a fantastic beginning.
Despite the 43% Rotten rating from reviewers, the 88% audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes is substantially higher. Yesterday at 3 p.m., previews started.
Other comparable films that Black Adam has so far outperformed include F9 ($7.1M), Ant-Man ($6.4M), Shazam! ($5.9M), and No Time to Die ($5.6M), none of which included Johnson. In May 2021, F9 debuted at $70 million, with the remaining comps debuting in the $50M area.
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Black Adam’s first frame is currently tracking at $60 million or more, down from the original tracking of $70 million. At this stage of the pandemic, tentpoles have shown to be critic proof, as evidenced by the fact that Jurassic World Dominion opened to $145M while receiving a 29% on Rotten Tomatoes. Since Sony’s Bullet Train, which debuted to $30M during the first weekend of August, there hasn’t been anything as glitzy, star-studded as Black Adam.
As is typical for Johnson, Black Adam’s international prospects are better than its domestic ones; the estimated market start for the world this weekend is $135M. The two movies in which Johnson had the two highest preview nights were Furious 7 ($15.8M) and Fate of the Furious ($10.4M).
