Black Adam looks set to light up the box office

Dwayne Johnson in Black Adam
(Image credit: Warner Bros./DC)

Dwayne Johnson seems set to bring the big bucks to DC, as it looks like Black Adam will arrive at the global box office with a bang. The movie was originally projected to make between $65 million and $70 million at the US box office, although negative reviews from critics have reduced that projection to $60 million. 

Deadline predicts that the movie's global intake will be between $65 million and $75 million – this makes a global box office total of between $125 million and $135 million for the DC movie's opening weekend. As Black Adam's budget was $200 million, that's a strong start.

Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra, the movie sees the titular 5,000-year-old superpowered antihero unleashed into the modern world and face off against the Justice Society – that's Noah Centineo as Atom Smasher, Aldis Hodge as Hawkman, Quintessa Swindell as Cyclone, and Pierce Brosnan as Doctor Fate – as they try to reign him in and team up to defeat an even more powerful force.

DC movies are picking up the pace again at the box office post-pandemic, with The Batman opening to $134 million back in March. The Matt Reeves-directed movie, starring Robert Pattinson as the Caped Crusader, made over $770 million in total. By contrast, The Suicide Squad, which was released back in 2021, only made $26 million on its opening weekend and $168 million overall. 

Black Adam hits the big screen on October 21. While we wait, make sure you're up to date with the DCEU with our guide to watching the DC movies in order.

Entertainment Writer

I’m an Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, covering everything film and TV-related across the Total Film and SFX sections. I help bring you all the latest news and also the occasional feature too. I’ve previously written for publications like HuffPost and i-D after getting my NCTJ Diploma in Multimedia Journalism.