“Black Adam” made a US debut of $67 million

Dwayne Johnson is Black Adam in Warner Bros.’ latest DC movie “Black Adam”.

Warner Bros.

Black Adam stormed into theaters this weekend and grossed $67 million domestically. It’s the first film since then Disney and Marvel Studios’ Thor: Love and Thunder in July to gross more than $50 million on its debut.

That Warner Brothers’ The film also marks star Dwayne Johnson’s biggest domestic premiere as a leading actor.

Premium formats, including IMAX, Dolby Cinema and large-screen cinemas, accounted for about 33% of the film’s domestic ticket sales, the studio reported on Sunday. Often more expensive than tickets sold for traditional screenings, these tickets show that audiences want to see big films on the biggest screen possible.

This bodes well for the film industry, which has seen admissions fall during the pandemic and is currently grappling with a severe shortage of new film releases. Last Sunday, the 2022 box office had more than a third fewer wide releases compared to 2019. According to data from Comscore, this has resulted in a more than 30% drop in box office earnings.

Black Adam is one of only four major releases hitting theaters before the end of the year. The others are all Disney movies: Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (Nov. 11), Strange World (Nov. 23), and Avatar: The Way of Water (Dec. 16).

The hope for theater owners is that films like Black Adam can drive traffic to theaters beyond their opening weekend.