Don’t Blame Dwayne, Blame the WB
It goes without saying that Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is one of America’s greatest action heroes, taking the “Action-Hero Mantle” from icons such as Wesley Snipes, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, Carl Weathers, and a host of many others and turning it into something greater. The Rock, coming from the WWE, has become a Movie Star ICON, with profits in the range of up to $5 Billion dollars and that’s him starring in a leading role. Place him as a producer, and he’s at $2.9 Billion. The numbers don’t lie, trust me, I checked. The Image is below.
Yet, now we’re at an impasse as the latest film he starred in, BLACK ADAM, has fiscally collapsed as reports, from Variety have stated, that this film is set to lose anywhere between $50-$100 million. Honestly, I never had an opportunity to watch the film, but the various content creators that I follow, who reviewed the film, had positive declarations about the picture, with slight, negative undertones. The negatives weren’t statements like, “It’s Trash”, or “Hell to the No”; it consisted of statements like, “It’s good, but...” or “It was great to see Black Adam touch the screen, but...” and that’s what turned me off from watching it. And now, at the time of this writing, Black Adam is now available for rent for prices which are comparable to the price of two tickets for a matinee, on Sunday. Just to add, I haven’t seen Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (BPWF) either, while many others have seen it, more than once.
And here is where one of the issues lie with Warner Bros.
A movie can only reach billion-dollar status if the film is rewatchable. As many fans flocked to see BPWF, many wanted to see it again and again. With Black Adam, it appeared that no one wanted to see it again in theaters or at all. It’s not The Rock’s fault. As a producer for the film, he promoted the film, and used his star power to turn an obscure character, not really seen in television or in any DC movie series (except an animated feature here and there), and turned him into an ICON of sorts and that, right there, is great marketing. The only problem with that is that many people haven’t heard of him, the comic book character, not the star.
Fans will support “The Rock”, myself included, yet somewhere along the lines of the movie’s promotion, the re-emergence of the comic book character in comic book stores, the Black Adam merchandise, and the fans of DC Comics, the presence and message of Black Adam was lost. Yes, it’s a superhero (really antihero); Yes, it’s The Rock; Yes, it’s a DC Comic film, but, is it worth watching?
And here is where another message became clear after ticket sale numbers came in…many weren’t interested. Warner Bros, as stated from the top hierarchy are only interested in “making hits, not memorable stories of characters”. For example, I was speaking to a colleague about the lost money for this film and he stated, “I wanted to take my kids to see it, but I have no clue who he is!!!” and that, right there is the third issue and a major problem altogether. To garner new fans, WB needs a better approach to reaching the newbies who might be interested in these superhero flicks and/or upcoming features for initial and rewatchabilty purposes. For reference, I saw The Dark Knight 3 times in theaters and loved it. Love Live Heath Ledger.
Fandom.com, the world’s leading website of fans and critics, in their annual fandom report, did research on DC and Marvel fans and discussed how to garner more fans for DC Comics in general. As stated from the data, “DC Fans are a fan of DC Superheroes, not the Universe. As a result, they are more selective with what they watch...”.
BOOM.
Many fans did not watch Black ADAM. It’s even possible, in my opinion, that some fans of DC Comic movies, had no clue who he was. An obscure character in an even obscurer universe.
Data from Inside Fandom 2022 4th Annual Study
In summary, with DC Comics, there is no universe on the big screen, just the same output of characters that date back to the Christopher Reeve Era (Superman), Adam West Era (Batman), John Wesley Shipp Era (Flash), and Lynda Carter Era (Wonder Woman).
Wait, scratch the last one, Warner Bros just Canceled Wonder Woman.
DAMN…..Another one bites the dust.
The Rock fought for this character, and it came to life in front of our eyes thanks to CGI and WB’s huge production budget. We are appreciative of his efforts, but it’s going to take more than movie stardom and a heavy budget to promote DC’s hidden superheroes to billion-dollar status on the big screen. Even if there’s a reboot coming by some of the greats in the superhero Industry. Shoutout to James Gunn and Peter Safran. Wishing you the best.
One question Warner Bros (and crew) need to ask themselves before any new DC film drops is this: Will fans watch this movie again if they put it out?
Good Luck With That One.
