The Rock refusing to play ball with Shazam kinda killed both franchises,” Someone wrote on Twitter
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is being dragged on social media for killing both the Black Adam and Shazam franchises with one user on social media saying, “Blame Dwayne’s Big A– Ego!”
Shazam Fury of the Gods was released over the weekend and only grossed an estimated $30.5 million at the box office from 4,071 theaters, 44% below the $53.5 million opening that the first Shazam movie earned in April 2019.
Johnson simply refused to accept the fact that Black Adam is a Shazam villain. It was Johnson who under a different DC Regime separated two IP’s.
“I made a phone call,” Johnson previously told Vanity Fair. “I said, ‘I have to share my thoughts here. It’s very unpopular…’ because everybody thought, ‘Hey, this script is great, let’s go make this movie.’ I said, ‘I really think that you should make Shazam!, make that movie on its own in the tone that you want. And I think we should separate this as well.’”
“Original script had both #BlackAdam #Shazam establishing their origin stories in one film. I fought hard for both characters (+ JSA) to have their own stand alone films for the fans to enjoy. And protect Black Adam’s ruthless & extremely violent tone as we build out #DCEU,” Johnson previously said on Twitter.
As TheWrap previously reported, an insider told the outlet, “Dwayne Johnson’s thinly veiled disdain for Shazam means he probably isn’t loving the idea that his boss is now the guy that produces Shazam.”
Less than 60 days after Black Adam fizzled at the box office, Johnson was shown the door.
In hindsight, it probably wasn’t the right call to separate Black Adam and Shazam.
Even Shazam director David F Sandberg chimed saying “it was a missed opportunity.”
“The thing about Black Adam is that he has the same powers as Shazam, and we did that in the first movie where we gave Sivana [Mark Strong] the same power,” Sandberg told the Hollywood Reporter. “So I don’t think the fight itself would’ve been super interesting, but I do think it’s a missed opportunity. What makes the most sense is to have them fight each other, so it’s money left on the table. But it’s how it is.”
Users on social media had strong reactions to Johnson’s meddling with some citing his ego.
“Casting the Rock was a cool idea, but the problem is that he’s too big to take a backseat. He wanted to fight Superman instead of Shazam for a reason. He made a Black Adam movie instead of being in a Shazam movie for a reason. Ego,” wrote a user on Twitter.
“The Rock publicly belittling Shazam and squashing any hopes of seeing Black Adam and Shazam fight together might have contributed to this weekend’s numbers. I love The Rock but that for sure did not help DC at all,” wrote another.
“Blame Dwayne’s big a– ego lol. He thought having black Adam in a Shazam movie was doing a “disservice” to the black Adam character LMFAOOOOO,” a Twitter user wrote.
“Shazam is a victim of the ego and the greed of the rock that’s why black adam received what he deserved for failure,” added another.
“Dwayne Johnson really screwed both movies by not wanting to be a #Shazam baddie first, which is what should’ve happened all along,” added another.
My 9-year-old says #ShazamFuryOfTheGods is better than #BlackAdam.
I liked each movie less than him, but I’m onboard with the ranking.
That said, Dwayne Johnson really screwed both movies by not wanting to be a #Shazam baddie first, which is what should’ve happened all along. pic.twitter.com/DQqCDy0HBq
— Zaki Hasan (@zakiscorner) March 17, 2023
“Going to see Shazam! Fury Of The Gods on Wednesday. Currently watching the Superman/Shazam!: The Return Of Black Adam and if Dwayne Johnson’s ego hadn’t gotten the better of him, a live action version of that short movie would’ve made bank for everyone involved,” wrote a user on Twitter.
“People who aren’t familiar with the comics seriously need to understand how utterly insane it is that there are 2 Shazam movies and an entire Black Adam movie in the same universe and those 2 characters never met once,” added another.
“Black Adam should never have gotten his own movie and he should’ve just been the Shazam 2 villain. That s–t was an ego project and wasn’t worth it in the slightest. Totally f–ked up the potential for a pretty cool Shazam 2,” another user wrote.
“Shazam is boring without black adam like venom was without spiderman,” said another.
“Really funny how hard Dwayne took this last little era of DCEU of the rails. Sandberg and Gunn’s projects both tried to tell good stories and simultaneously fitting into a cohesive and we’ll connected cinematic universe, but there remains this… Big big asterisk,” wrote a Twitter user.
Soucre: heroichollywood.com
