‘Black Adam’ losing $100 million could put James Gunn between The Rock and a hard place

James Gunn knows a thing or two about watching a heavily-hyped DCU blockbuster go down in a ball of box office flames, but at least The Suicide Squad had the pandemic and a simultaneous HBO Max release to lean on as an excuse – something that can’t be said for Dwayne Johnson’s Black Adam.

Having stuck with the project for 15 years, the leading man and producer finally brought the antihero to the big screen, where it struggled to gain the sort of momentum typically associated with big budget comic book adaptations. In fact, reports recently emerged that the film could end up losing anywhere up to $100 million by the time it leaves theaters.

Prior to Black Adam limping out of the blocks, Johnson and producer Hiram Garcia were teasing sequels, spinoffs for the Justice Society, potential HBO Max shows, and the showdown with Henry Cavill’s Superman that everybody appeared to be clamoring for. However, with a nine-figure loss potentially on the cards, the franchise’s future has been plunged into doubt.

Johnson evidently struck up a rapport with the new Warner Bros. Discovery regime given that they granted his wish to bring Cavill back as the Man of Steel, something the previous incumbents of the boardroom weren’t interested in. That being said, with Gunn and Peter Safran now steering DC Studios, will they be anywhere near as invested in a property poised to post a substantial loss straight out of the gate?

Obviously, The Rock is too big of a star to leave sitting on the sidelines and he’ll almost certainly be suiting up again, but a direct sequel and an entire self-sufficient Black Adam universe just got a whole lot less likely now that we know it’s destined to wind up in the red.