A change of plans. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson shared “a long-awaited Black Adam update regarding the character’s future in the DC Universe” just two months after his first film hit theaters — and it’s not exactly good news.
“James Gunn and I connected and, Black Adam will not be in their first chapter of storytelling,” the Red Notice star, 50, wrote in a lengthy statement via Instagram on Tuesday, December 20. “However, DC and Seven Bucks have agreed to continue exploring the most valuable ways Black Adam can be utilized in future DC multiverse chapters.”
Gunn, 56, and Peter Safran were named the new co-chairmen and chief executive officers of DC Studios in late October. In recent weeks, they’ve made it clear that there will be changes to the DCU. Those changes don’t seem to include Black Adam 2 — at least not right away.
“James and I have known each other for years and have always rooted for each other to succeed,” Johnson added. “It’s no different now, and I will always root for DC (and Marvel) to win and WIN BIG.”
The Teremana Tequila founder continued: “You guys know me and I have very thick skin — and you can always count on me to be direct with my words. These decisions made by James and DC leadership represent their vision of DCU through their creative lens. After 15 years of relentless hard work to finally make Black Adam with tremendous gratitude, humility and love. We did great.”
Gunn retweeted Johnson’s statement, adding, “Love @TheRock & I’m always excited to see what he & Seven Bucks do next. Can’t wait to collaborate soon.”
Black Adam followed Johnson’s titular character who has godly powers. He was imprisoned for 5,000 years and returns to seek revenge. The film earned $391 million at the box office worldwide. However, some reports claimed Black Adam needed to earn $600 million to break even after marketing costs. Johnson took to Twitter on December 7 to state that the film is expected to turn a profit.
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“Waited to confirm with financiers before I shared this excellent #BlackAdam news – our film will PROFIT between $52M-$72M. Fact. At almost $400M worldwide we are building our new franchise step by step (first Captain America did $370M) for the DC future,” he tweeted at the time.
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