On December 16th, BLACK ADAM will debut on HBO Max and conclude its “fair to middling” run in theatres which began on October 21st. After Warner Bros. invested nearly $200M in its production, many have claimed that its worldwide gross of $400M amounts to a break-even proposition for the film.
However, multiple stories this week disputed this calculation, pointing to additional revenue streams from PVOD rentals and merchandising sales. Deadline’s Anthony D’Alessandro stepped through a thorough review of the movie’s financials and concluded that BLACK ADAM made a profit in the vicinity of $50M.
While this modest sum is not the hoped-for result for a big-budget superhero film, it is also not the bomb that cynics have made it out to be. After all, Marvel’s original CAPTAIN AMERICA movie made less than BLACK ADAM and became a very profitable franchise. In fact, Warner Bros.’ notoriously cost-conscious studio execs have already announced that BLACK ADAM is set to return in an upcoming sequel, which probably indicates that D’Alessandro’s financial analysis is correct.