‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ Just Out-Earned Black Adam’s Entire Domestic Run In A Weekend

DC has a long way to go as they attempt to chart a course into the future for their roster of heroes and villains. While the DCEU has generally performed better at the box office than the MCU, we have a prime example of how wide the gap can be.

• Black Panther: Wakanda Forever had a $180 million opening weekend domestically, and has hauled in $330 million globally so far.
• That’s in contrast to Black Adam, which is considered a decent hit for DC, which despite a release back on October 21, has $151 million domestic, well under one weekend of Wakanda Forever, and $352 million globally, just over that one weekend.

Black Adam had arguably the biggest action movie star in the world right now leading it, The Rock, and it is an interesting contrast that DC is trying to make up. The audience scores have been higher in both cases, but the gap is still wide. The Rock didn't have any hard feelings after posting a message to Wakanda.

The advantage of being a sequel to a successful movie is built in, but that is kind of the point. The Rock made a big point about the arrival of Black Adam as the beginning of a new era for DC, with a lot riding on Henry Cavill returning to star as Superman in upcoming movies again. It is not clear how the James Gunn vision will change it. He has a personal style that feels good in DC, but it is not clear what his vision will be. It has been speculated that his first order of business may have been greenlighting a Lobo film, but that hasn't been verified.

If you are wondering if WB really needs to get DC up to the level of the MCU, I would argue that it does, because hundreds of million of dollars are being earned on both sides. WB Discovery is facing down a mountain of debt, which has been responsible for Zaslav's deep cuts across WB and HBO, and a bunch of superhero movies is just what the doctor ordered. Fans like DC movies more than critics, but that doesn't translate into box office returns. I wonder if James Gunn can be the Kevin Feige for DC to ensure that level of quality is in place with future projects there.

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There will be another decade of superhero movies. It might be time for DC to take things to the next level.

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