With $7.6 million in Thursday previews, DC Films and Warner Bros’ Black Adam grossed $26.8 million on Friday, posting the biggest solo opening day for star Dwayne Johnson. The film is currently tracking to make over $60 million across its first three days, with a real shot at overtaking Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs and Shaw’s $60.03 million debut haul.
Black Adam went into previews at around 3 p.m. on Thursday, in approximately 3,500 locations, before launching wide into more than 4,400 theaters on Friday. Budgeted at a reported $195 million, the film launched domestically after grossing over $25 million from overseas territories across two days. Black Adam is pacing behind Fast Five ($86 million), Fast & Furious 6 ($117 million), Furious 7 ($147 million), and Fate of the Furious ($99 million), although anything over $61 million will make it Johnson’s biggest non-Fast and Furious opener. The superhero movie, in which Johnson stars as a godlike being who is reawakened after 5,000 years of slumber, is pacing ahead of the $55 million-$60 million that films such as Jumanji: The Next Level, San Andreas, and Hobbs & Shaw posted. It’s also tracking well ahead of fellow DC film Shazam! which made $53 million in its opening weekend, aided by strong reviews.
Audience reports for Black Adam are more favorable than professional reviews. Black Adam scored a healthy B+ CinemaScore from opening day audiences and received an 89% audience score on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. That's significantly better than the 41% "rotten" score that the film is currently sitting at from professional critics. Collider’s own Ross Bonaime wrote in his review that the film "might not be the hero the DCEU needs, but it’s a welcome shift for this larger world and an invigorating look at the potential going forward in this universe.”
Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra, Black Adam has been in development for over a decade. Johnson first became attached to the project back in 2007. Collet-Serra was hired to helm three years ago, after collaborating with the star on Jungle Cruise. Black Adam also stars Aldis Hodge, Pierce Brosnan, Noah Centineo, and Quintessa Swindell.
Meanwhile, in second place, Universal’s counter-programmer Ticket to Paradise is looking at a $16 million opening weekend after a $6.4 million Friday. The George Clooney-Julia Roberts rom-com had already grossed over $70 million from overseas territories across the last couple of weeks and is looking like a hit for everybody involved.
Paramount’s Smile held better than last week’s top film, Universal’s Halloween Ends. Finishing third, the film added another $2.5 million to its domestic tally on its fourth Friday and will shoot past the $80 million mark by Sunday. After grossing $41 million last weekend, Halloween Ends plummeted (as expected) in its second weekend, and claimed the fourth spot. The film made $2.4 million on Friday and will cross the $50 million mark domestically by Sunday. Rounding out the top five, Sony’s Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile added another $1.1 million, pushing its domestic total to over $25 million.
Overall business this weekend is expected to top $100 million for the first time since Jordan Peele’s Nope debuted in theaters in July. You can watch our interview with Johnson here, and stay tuned to Collider for more updates.