Black Adam DCU Future Bleak After Dwayne Johnson Gives Warner Bros the Ultimate Middle Finger- Report

Dwayne Johnson’s first attempt at the popular superhero genre is generating more attention than ever nearly two months after he debuted as DC’s Black Adam. DJ and the studio hyped and promoted the movie to a great extent in the lead-up to its release.

The studio saw this as a clean slate and a new beginning for their much-maligned superhero franchise. However, the box office numbers and the subsequent fallout suggest this may be the end of the road for The Rock as Black Adam.

After the Warner Bros. Discovery merger, many believed DC could finally break free from the turmoil that plagued their past movies.

Popular filmmaker James Gunn joined the board as co-CEO alongside Peter Safran. Black Adam with The Rock starring as the lead was the beginning of a new era for DC.

DJ had indicated they will build the new DC Universe around Henry Cavill’s Superman and Black Adam, but that may no longer be the case.

After Cavill announced he won’t return as Superman, the saga took another twist as Dwayne Johnson unfollowed Warner Bros. Discovery and Black Adam on social media.

Dwayne Johnson unfollows Warner Bros. and Black Adam on Instagram

Dwayne Johnson is one of the bankable stars when it comes to box-office success. He built his reputation as a top action star with movies like Fast & Furious and Jumanji and revitalized the franchises. But as it turns out, he couldn’t quite replicate the success with Black Adam.

The studio had high hopes with a major popular star like Johnson starring in their established movie universe. The movie is close to earning $400 million worldwide.

The numbers aren’t shabby, but given that it cost $195 million to produce and another $100 million spent on marketing; it fell short of the studio’s expectations. Reports also suggested that it needed to make $600 million to break even.

Moreover, there was controversy after DJ shared the movie will make a profit between $52-72 million.

But in a report for the Puck Newsletter, Matt Belloni claimed that Warner Bros. believed the former WWE Champion leaked the more favorable numbers in a Deadline article which is “filled with false assumptions.” 

READ MORE: Amidst ‘Leak’ Accusations for Black Adam, Dwayne Johnson Shares Sneak-Peek Into His Next Big Movie Role

Moving on from that, the new bosses at DC look to start with a clean slate, with many planned projects getting tossed. Despite Henry Cavill’s return to the fold with Black Adam and touting a possible Man of Steel sequel, he is out of the plans too.

This put the future of Black Adam in doubt as well and it looks like we won’t be getting a sequel. According to a report Dwayne Johnson recently unfollowed Warner Bros. Discovery and Black Adam on Instagram, which could be a subtle hint that this is the end of the road for the anti-superhero in DCU for the foreseeable future.

The Rock said he had to struggle a lot to get Cavill back in the DCU and his departure could also be a factor in Johnson moving away from the franchise.

James Gunn and Safran have a new vision for DC going forward and The Rock may have caught the idea that he isn’t a part of that. Black Adam’s box office debacle could’ve also convinced DC to drop the anti-superhero from their slate of new films.

Despite getting one of the most popular actors on board, DC and Warner Bros. remain in turmoil and frustrate their fan base.

With the Dwayne Johnson experiment possibly over and Cavill dropped as Superman, James Gunn and his team have to hit the ground running with their plans for the DC superhero universe.

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