The film, from Warner Bros. and DC Comics, is expected to generate $60
million or more from 4,350 North American theaters between Friday and
Sunday. That’ll easily be enough to dethrone “Halloween Ends,” which took
the No. 1 spot last weekend with $41 million.
“Black Adam” is
squaring off against “Ticket to Paradise,” a romantic comedy featuring Julia
Roberts and George Clooney, which is aiming to generate $15 million from
3,500 cinemas in its box office debut.
“Black Adam,” which cost a mighty $195 million to produce, isn’t going to break any records in the comic book realm. And it’ll certainly need a long life on the big screen to justify that price tag. But the movie does look to inject a little sizzle in the otherwise sluggish October at the box office. There hasn’t been a film to open above $50 million since “Thor: Love and Thunder” in July, though last weekend’s “Halloween Ends” came closest with $41 million.
In terms of DC entries, “Black Adam” is tracking for a
better start than 2021’s “The Suicide Squad,” which collected a dismal $26
million while debuting simultaneously on HBO Max. But the anti-hero
adventure is expected to earn far less than the studio’s most recent
live-action comic book adaptation, “The Batman,” which impressed with $134
million in March. (“DC League of Super-Pets,” an animated adventure about
the four-legged friends of Justice League members, took in $23 million in
its opening weekend in July.) However, Black Adam is nowhere near as
well-known to the general public as the Caped Crusader, portrayed by Robert
Pattinson in “The Batman.” That film eventually tapped out with a solid $770
million worldwide.
“Black Adam” has generated mixed reviews. But it’s a superhero
movie, after all, so it’s less likely that critical sentiment will affect
ticket sales. In “Black Adam,” Johnson plays an antihero who is unleashed
into modern times after nearly 5,000 years of imprisonment. His baddie
tendencies attract the attention of the Justice Society of America, whose
members consist of Hawkman (Aldis Hodge) and Atom Smasher (Noah Centineo),
who try to teach him to be a hero.
“Ticket to Paradise,” from Universal Pictures, is hoping to
serve as counter-programming against “Black Adam.” For “Ticket to Paradise,”
a debut in the mid-teens would be respectable given the challenges facing
romantic comedies at the box office. Those initial ticket sales would fall
in between “The Lost City” ($30 million debut) and “Bros” ($4.8 million
debut), the most recent rom-coms to play in theaters.
Already, the combined wattage of Roberts and Clooney is
charming audiences at the international box office, where “Ticket to
Paradise” has generated an impressive $72.6 million to date. The movie cost
$60 million to produce, which is fairly expensive for modern romantic
comedies.
Ol Parker, best known for “Mamma Mia! Here We Go
Again” and “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel,” directed “Ticket to Paradise.”
Roberts and Clooney play hostile exes, who fly to Bali to stop their
lovestruck daughter (played by Kaitlyn Dever) from marrying a near stranger.
