‘Black Adam’ Brings Back The Blockbuster, ‘Ticket to Paradise’ Provides The Counterprogramming
Finally, Black Adam signals the return of the blockbuster. The DCEU film could not come soon enough, arriving after a brutal box office drought with 12 straight weekends where the overall box office was below $100 million, a streak that will hopefully be broken this weekend. After over two months of what was ultimately counter-programming without the main programming, it’s great to have some heavier weight classes back in the ring, which started with last weekend’s disappointing but still good $40.1 million opening for Halloween Ends. Black Adam isn’t the sort to come even close to a nine digit opening (for that we’ll have to wait three weeks for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever), but two weeks in a row of at least mid-eight digit openings is bringing some much needed relief to a struggling marketplace.
Black Adam is a spinoff from Shazam!, and while the anti-hero title character and the accompanying Justice Society of America members are no household names, the film’s star certainly is. This has been a passion project for Dwayne Johnson, who plays Black Adam and also produces, and he has been involved with the project for longer than the DCEU has even been in existence. Johnson reteams with Jungle Cruise director Jaume Collet-Serra for the comic book film, and he is joined on screen by Aldis Hodge, Noah Centineo, Sarah Shahi, Marwan Kenzari, Quintessa Swindell, Bodhi Sabongui, and Pierce Brosnan.
Black Adam is opening this week in most of the world, though Japan will get the film in December and China is still a question mark. As far as DC films go, Shazam! is the best comp. The 2019 superhero film opened to $53 million and finished with $140 million domestic and $366 million worldwide. That would be a disappointment for Black Adam, which cost $195 million to produce, but the darker edged film is tracking higher for its opening, with the both pent up demand for a big effects film and Dwayne Johnson’s entry into the world of superheroes likely helping out. Shazam! won over critics (90% on Rotten Tomatoes) and audiences (A CinemaScore) alike, while the reception on Black Adam has been middling thus far (54% on Rotten Tomatoes). This may not hurt the opening, but it may hurt its chances to play beyond the faithful. Whether it turns into a massive moneymaker or not, though, it is at least sure to be the biggest opener since Thor: Love and Thunder over three months ago (no film since has even opened above $50 million).
Though Black Adam is the main event, there is some good counter-programming on offer with the romantic comedy Ticket to Paradise. This old fashioned star vehicle has George Clooney and Julia Roberts in the lead roles, marking their fifth collaboration together. They play a divorced couple that decides to work together and go to Bali to prevent their daughter from marrying a guy she just met. The $60 million budgeted film from director Ol Parker is unusual in the current marketplace, and this sort of thing hardly makes it to the big screen anymore, let alone with such a big budget. When it does, it doesn’t set the box office on fire the way it used to, but the star power and strong hook could draw in the older audience which has been largely absent from movie theaters lately.
While the budget makes it a risky bet, the good news is that Ticket to Paradise has already racked up $74.1 million internationally, where it has seen most of its rollout (the gross was enough to push the combined global total of the Clooney/Roberts collabs past the $1 billion mark, with roughly 80% of that coming from Ocean's Eleven and Ocean's Twelve). It is running ahead of where The Lost City was at the same point in its release, and that film currently holds the title of the year’s biggest rom-com with an international cume of $85.5 million. Ticket to Paradise should best that soon enough, but getting to The Lost City’s $105 million domestic cume is another story. It should do somewhere around half of The Lost City’s $30.5 million opening, so don’t expect this to become the new rom-com champion for the year. Still, it should at least double the production budget, and it could help get the ball rolling for older audiences to see more films in the winter.
Beyond these wide releases, there are a few limited releases of note. Fox Searchlight is debuting Martin McDonagh’s latest The Banshees of Inisherin, starring Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson. There’s also the country music documentary The Return of Tanya Tucker: Featuring Brandi Carlile from Sony Pictures Classics and the British drama Aftersun from A24.
Black Adam is a spinoff from Shazam!, and while the anti-hero title character and the accompanying Justice Society of America members are no household names, the film’s star certainly is. This has been a passion project for Dwayne Johnson, who plays Black Adam and also produces, and he has been involved with the project for longer than the DCEU has even been in existence. Johnson reteams with Jungle Cruise director Jaume Collet-Serra for the comic book film, and he is joined on screen by Aldis Hodge, Noah Centineo, Sarah Shahi, Marwan Kenzari, Quintessa Swindell, Bodhi Sabongui, and Pierce Brosnan.
Black Adam is opening this week in most of the world, though Japan will get the film in December and China is still a question mark. As far as DC films go, Shazam! is the best comp. The 2019 superhero film opened to $53 million and finished with $140 million domestic and $366 million worldwide. That would be a disappointment for Black Adam, which cost $195 million to produce, but the darker edged film is tracking higher for its opening, with the both pent up demand for a big effects film and Dwayne Johnson’s entry into the world of superheroes likely helping out. Shazam! won over critics (90% on Rotten Tomatoes) and audiences (A CinemaScore) alike, while the reception on Black Adam has been middling thus far (54% on Rotten Tomatoes). This may not hurt the opening, but it may hurt its chances to play beyond the faithful. Whether it turns into a massive moneymaker or not, though, it is at least sure to be the biggest opener since Thor: Love and Thunder over three months ago (no film since has even opened above $50 million).
Though Black Adam is the main event, there is some good counter-programming on offer with the romantic comedy Ticket to Paradise. This old fashioned star vehicle has George Clooney and Julia Roberts in the lead roles, marking their fifth collaboration together. They play a divorced couple that decides to work together and go to Bali to prevent their daughter from marrying a guy she just met. The $60 million budgeted film from director Ol Parker is unusual in the current marketplace, and this sort of thing hardly makes it to the big screen anymore, let alone with such a big budget. When it does, it doesn’t set the box office on fire the way it used to, but the star power and strong hook could draw in the older audience which has been largely absent from movie theaters lately.
While the budget makes it a risky bet, the good news is that Ticket to Paradise has already racked up $74.1 million internationally, where it has seen most of its rollout (the gross was enough to push the combined global total of the Clooney/Roberts collabs past the $1 billion mark, with roughly 80% of that coming from Ocean's Eleven and Ocean's Twelve). It is running ahead of where The Lost City was at the same point in its release, and that film currently holds the title of the year’s biggest rom-com with an international cume of $85.5 million. Ticket to Paradise should best that soon enough, but getting to The Lost City’s $105 million domestic cume is another story. It should do somewhere around half of The Lost City’s $30.5 million opening, so don’t expect this to become the new rom-com champion for the year. Still, it should at least double the production budget, and it could help get the ball rolling for older audiences to see more films in the winter.
Beyond these wide releases, there are a few limited releases of note. Fox Searchlight is debuting Martin McDonagh’s latest The Banshees of Inisherin, starring Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson. There’s also the country music documentary The Return of Tanya Tucker: Featuring Brandi Carlile from Sony Pictures Classics and the British drama Aftersun from A24.
