Foreign media analyzes why "Black Adam" failed: Johnson is not the savior that DCU needs

The DC superhero movie "Black Adam" has officially been released on streaming media. The film currently has a North American box office of $158 million and a global box office of $367 million. The Rotten Tomatoes rating is 39% and the IMDb rating is 6.9. Some foreign media believe that the current performance of "Black Adam" can be described as a loss in both box office and reputation, and summarized five reasons.

First, foreign media believe that the influence of "The Rock" Johnson may not be as great as we thought. Foreign media commented that for a long time, we thought Johnson was a superstar, but the North American box office of "Black Adam" in the first weekend of 67 million US dollars set a record for the first weekend of Johnson's starring movie. This result is dwarfed by many small stars. Only then did everyone realize that Johnson's most popular movie is the "Fast and Furious" series.

Second, foreign media believe that the trailer for Black Adam is terrible and over-consumed. Foreign media pointed out that before the movie was released, Johnson spent a lot of time promoting it on social media, raising the fans' appetite, but the truth was revealed as soon as the trailer came out. On the eve of the movie's release, Johnson was "at his wit's end" in promoting Henry Cavill's cameo, as if Superman's Easter egg was more important than the movie.

Third, fans don't want a solo Black Adam movie. Fans think Black Adam is great as a villain, but he should appear with characters like Shazam and Superman instead of having a solo movie for him. Black Adam is Johnson's wishful thinking.

Fourth, Black Adam failed the Justice Society of America. When Black Adam announced the introduction of the Justice Society, many fans were excited, but the movie only showed a few minor characters in the Justice Society, such as Hawkman and Doctor Fate, while big names such as the Flash and Green Lantern did not appear at all. Moreover, characters such as Hawkman were ineffective in fighting Black Adam, which was very perfunctory.

Fifth, Johnson is not the savior that DCU needs. Not long ago, Warner appointed director James Gunn and production partner Peter Safran as co-directors and co-CEOs of the newly established DC Studios. Foreign media believe that they will not give the green light to the sequel of this failed work.