New Line and Warner Bros faced the exhausting task of moving yet another tentpole film out of this summer, specifically Dwayne Johnson’s much-anticipated film into the DCEU universe in Black Adam.
The film, which reps director Jaume Collet-Serra’s re-team with Dwayne Johnson after their last movie, last summer’s Jungle Cruise, was expected to open in 2020 but was forced to move on October 21 thanks to the backlog of VFX houses owing to the pandemic and the movie’s massive 2,000-plus visual effects shots.
DC’s Upcoming film makes a seismic splash in the Hall H of Comic-Con
However, now the film managed to make a seismic splash in the Hall H of Comic-Con on Saturday. The return after three years thanks to the pandemic would be quite incomplete without the presence of Dwayne Johnson. Some panels here at SDCC (Abbott Elementary, The Rookie) beamed their cast virtually. For The Rock, never!
“When Dwayne commits to something, he does it big,” stated one source with knowledge of the star’s maneuvers at Comic-Con.
While the pandemic was on and movie theaters were closed, studio marketing folk thought they would not be able to launch a tentpole without the box office capitals and advertising of New York City and Los Angeles.
Dwayne Johnson has already chronicled SDCC with Black Adam:
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Obviously, hiss falling down isn’t very upsetting; rather, it is a golden opportunity. Beginning in mid-August, the domestic box office will be entering a two-month period of adult counter-programming, so no doubt creating anticipation for the release of Black Adam, arguably the first multi-quad tentpole.
Director Collet-Serra is happy with the late release date of Black Adam
“We’re happy with the date,” Collet-Serra said about the new October release plan. “We’re a week off from Halloween with a movie that’s very edgy.”
Deadline caught up with the Spanish director before the Warner Bros panel on Saturday to talk about Black Adam.
“Shallows had visual effects, Jungle Cruise was the next step. I learned a lot and enjoyed the process of world creation, and just being at the forefront of the technology and working with the smartest people in the world. And basically, Black Adam doubles down on the that,” Collet-Serra says
“When I read the script, I gravitated toward the origin story of this unconventional character. I like how he operates in the gray, and has a particular sense of morality and justice, similar to some of the movies in the 1970s where the system is broken and someone needs to do something for justice. Early on, I said that this could be the Dirty Harry of superheroes. Someone who won’t follow the rules, but does the right thing. The corrupt system won’t protect the innocent anymore. Black Adam could be that [society’s] hero.”
Johnson gave some props to Collet-Serra for the Dirty Harry at CinemaCon where the first teaser trailer debuted, even stating that the 1971’s film by Clint Eastwood “was their North Star” for a project he’s held close for so long.
“It’s one of those things that gets me out of bed,” added Johnson
Who is Black Adam in DC Comics?
After sleeping for about 5000 years, Black Adam wakes up in Kahndaq, an Egypt-like city. In this new world, Black Adam gets access to certain alien technology. Hawkman (Aldis Hodge), also has access to some of that as well with the Hawk cruiser. The film also has elements of magic tied to the Shazam world.
In regards to the movie being the DC anti-hero in a world full of good guys like Superman, Batman, and Shazam, Collet-Serra reveals, “Yeah, but in our movie, he’s figuring that out.”
The Justice Society of America, which includes Atom Smasher (Noah Centineo), Cyclone (Quintessa Swindell), Hawkman, and Doctor Fate (Pierce Brosnan) is summoned to stop the anti-hero after he wakes up.
Warner Bros is clearly looking to bridge the gap between its HBO Max series and DC movies — i.e., The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker by James Gunn and Matt Reeves’ Batman and upcoming Colin Farrell’s Penguin series — however, Collet-Serra doesn’t know if any spinoff series is in the works connected to Black Adam at the moment.
Source: Deadline
