‘Black Adam’ Makes Streaming Debut on HBO Max After Poor Box Office Performance

The world needed a hero… so, HBO Max gave its subscribers Black Adam.

Released on Oct. 19 in theaters, the DC superhero movie starring Dwayne Johnson as the eponymous anti-hero has gotten a streaming release on HBO Max, where it premieres today.

Black Adam follows Johnson’s character, a super-powered being imprisoned for using his powers for “vengeance,” who is released 5,000 years later. The synopsis for the movie reads, “Now released, his unique form of justice, born out of rage, is challenged by modern day heroes who form the Justice Society: Hawkman, Dr. Fate, Atom Smasher and Cyclone.”

Starring alongside Johnson is Aldis Hodge as Hawkman, Noah Centineo as Atom Smasher and Quintessa Swindell as Cyclone.

The action movie’s streaming release follows its poor performance at the box office, where it earned $389,472,068 worldwide against its mega-budget, rumored to be between $195-230 million.

But nowadays, a 58-day theatrical window is nothing out of the ordinary. On the contrary, it’s a bit impressive. In 2021, all Warner Bros. releases were released simultaneously in theaters and on HBO Max in response to the effect COVID-19 was having on movie theaters.

Then, the studio proceeded to operate with a 45-day window, allowing theatrical releases to quickly premiere on the streaming platform.

Back in August, sources told Decider that Warner Bros. is reevaluating that release model and will proceed on a “case-by-case basis” basis to determine when their theatrically-released movies will premiere on the streamer. Although, this insinuates that Black Adam’s dwindling box office popularity played a part in its quick premiere on HBO Max.

And unfortunately, the news couldn’t come at a worse time as it coincides with DC bosses James Gunn and Peter Safran causing controversy at the studio with their future plans, which involve saying bye-bye to Henry Cavill as Superman and scrapping the third installment of Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman.

The future for DC is looking bleak, my dudes.