Dwayne Johnson's Black Adam gets a surprising digital release date, coming much sooner than most DCU fans would expect.
The long-gestating DC Studios epic has been in theaters for just over a month and has done anything but light the world on fire. The film was released to less-than-stellar reviews and has earned a measly $366 million at the box office (less than Black Panther: Wakanda Forever did in two weeks).
Star of Black Adam Dwayne Johnson has remained outspoken about its reception, coming to the film's defense multiple times since its October release.
But now, not long after the movie's initial release, it seems Black Adam is coming home a lot sooner than some may have thought it would.
Black Adam Gets a Streaming Date
A Warner Bros. (WB) press release announced Black Adam would hit digital storefronts on November 22, just 31 days after its theatrical debut.
The digital launch marks the shortest theatrical exclusive window for any widely released DCU film.
The film will also get a full 4K Blu-ray launch, just after the new year on January 3, 2023.
Both the digital release and the Blu-ray disk come packed with special features, though the exact details of those remain unclear at the moment. However, judging from the list from WB it seems audiences will get a documentary about the history of Dwayne Johnson's DC character and the Justice Society of America, a deep dive into the movie's various costumes, and a look at the design of Black Adam's fictional nation, Kahndaq.
The full list of special features can be seen below:
- The History of Black Adam
- Who is The Justice Society?
- From Soul to Screen
- Black Adam: A Flawed Hero
- Black Adam: New Tech in an Old World
- Black Adam: Taking Flight
- Kahndaq: Designing a Nation
- The Rock of Eternity
- Costumes make the hero
- Black Adam: A new type of action
Why is Black Adam Hitting Digital so Soon?
It must be disappointing for WB to see its big Fall DC movie hit the way it did. After finding success earlier in the year with Matt Reeves' The Batman, it was hoped the studio could ride the wave of goodwill and round out 2022 with another banger.
Well, that was not the case. Black Adam sort of came and went without much fanfare, aside from the cast and crew promoting the movie. It seems one of the only talking points coming out of the film was that it marked the return of Henry Cavill's Superman.
This all plays into why the Dwayne Johnson-led blockbuster is cutting its losses and hitting digital as soon as possible. With this move, WB is really trying to get as much juice out of the Black Adam orange as it can.
Pushing this move any later would have risked the film falling even further out of the conversation than it already has. This way, the studio is giving audiences as many options as possible to see the film, so WB can start to recoup its investment.
Black Adam is in theaters now with a digital release coming on November 22.
