BLACK ADAM Boasts No. 1 Spot At Box Office Despite Slow Weekend
By Movieguide® Staff
DC and Warner Bros.’ BLACK ADAM continued to lead all movies at the box office in its second weekend, with a total of $319 million worldwide.
The movie, which stars Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson as the lead comic book character, defeated what little competition remained, mainly in the form of horror movies like SMILE and PREY ON THE DEVIL.
A portion of Movieguide®’s review of BLACK ADAM reads:
On the positive side, BLACK ADAM has some strong moral content. For example, the heroes team up to fight a villain who wants to use demonic powers. They never want to take the evil crown for their own use. Also, during the movie, Hawkman repeatedly tries to convince Black Adam not to kill the villain’s henchmen. Adam agrees – for a while. BLACK ADAM also has a strong theme promoting freedom. The people of Khandaq want freedom, and they think Black Adam can help them take back their freedom. Finally, there’s an overt theme of sacrifice in BLACK ADAM. In fact, the plot has two or three redemptive examples of sacrifice. This theme of sacrifice gives Black Adam and Hawkman a third way to look at what makes a hero.
While BLACK ADAM does contain cautions for its violence and some language, it is clear from the past two weekends at the box office that moral movies about good defeating evil will command the largest audiences—as opposed to horror movies with little redemptive value.
Another section of the Movieguide® review does warn some viewers of BLACK ADAM’s mixed worldview:
BLACK ADAM has exciting action scenes and is filled with jeopardy. Dwayne Johnson delivers a strong performance as the title character. However, a few of the supporting characters and players are not as strong. Also, BLACK ADAM has mixed positive and negative worldview content with mixed pagan, moral, occult, redemptive messages. It also has lots of intense action violence and about 15 “h” and “s” obscenities. So, MOVIEGUIDE® advises strong caution.
As Marvel and DC continue to pump out superhero movies, families need to exercise discernment.
Movieguide® previously reported on how Marvel’s latest phase of movies has introduced more immoral or objectionable content than in years before:
Several factors recently resulted in one of the most expensive movie cancellations in cinematic history—Warner Bros.’s $90 million project, BATGIRL—one of which was a woke ideology and inclusive representation.
The canceled DC comic book adaptation would have included the first transgender character in any superhero movie.
While Marvel Cinematic Universe has fared far better than DC over the past decades, Disney’s insistence on pushing an LGBTQ+ agenda in their content is already hurting the comic book movie’s latest installations.
A new survey by Morning Consult found that Marvel fans’ interest in superhero movies dropped from 87% in November 2021 to 82% by July 2022. While not a steep drop, the numbers reflect a growing trend downwards in an otherwise surefire box office formula for Disney.
However, since 2008, Marvel’s formula for a successful superhero movie has stayed relatively the same: moral, uplifting movies about heroes sacrificing themselves for humanity.
However, the most recent slate of MCU movies—after AVENGERS: ENDGAME, Marvel’s most successful movie of all time—have either included off-brand sexual content or woke idealogical sub-plots not found in the first 22 MCU movies.
Out of the list of recent Marvel movies, only one did not contain a “woke” message or LGBTQ+ agenda: SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME—which established itself as the second highest grossing MCU movie of all time with gross lifetime earnings of $804,793,477.
Other recent installations over the past two years include ETERNALS which earned $164,870,234, DOCTOR STRANGE IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS, which earned $411,327,261, and THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER, which earned $316,170,072.
ETERNALS introduced fans to the MCU’s first gay character. DOCTOR STRANGE IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS contained two lesbian “moms” and a central gay character, America Chavez. THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER also includes a character who mentions his “two dads.”
Disney’s motives are clear, but the box office numbers prove that woke superheroes do not spell long-term success for anyone—even Disney and Marvel.
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