Black Adam (film)

Black Adam
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General Information
Directed by:	Jaume Collet-Serra
Produced by:	Beau Flynn, Hiram Garcia, Dwayne Johnson, Dany Garcia,
Written by:	Adam Sztykiel, Rory Haines, Sohrab Noshirvani
Released Date:	October 21, 2022. USA October 3, 2022. Mexico City.
Duration:	125 minutes (2.09 hours)
Budget:	$190–260 million (Minus marketing)
Gross Revenue:	$393.5 million
Previous Film:	Shazam! (film)

Black Adam is a 2022 superhero film, based on the DC Comics anti-hero of the same name. Co-produced by New Line Cinema, DC Films, Seven Bucks Productions, and Flynn Picture Company. It serves as a spin-off to Shazam! and is the eleventh installment in the DC Extended Universe. The film was released on October 21, 2022.

Plot

Five thousand years ago, the nation of Kahndaq was under the tyrannical rule of king Ahk-Ton, who intended to create the Crown of Sabbac, which is known to give the wearer great power. After enslaving his people and forcing them to dig for "Eternium" - the magical crystal needed to create the crown - a young boy leads the slaves to revolt against him. When the boy is given the power of Shazam, transforming him into Kahndaq's heroic champion Teth-Adam, he kills Ahk-Ton and ends his reign.

In the present day, Khandaq is oppressed by the Intergang. Archaeologist Adrianna Tomaz tries to locate the Crown of Sabbac, with the help of her brother Karim, and colleagues Samir and Ishmael. As Adrianna obtains the crown, they are ambushed by the Intergang, killing Samir in the process. Adrianna accidentally reads an incantation which awakens Adam from his slumber, who subsequently slaughters most of the Intergang troops. After an Intergang soldier shoots an Eternium rocket at Adam which renders him comatose, it is revealed that Ishmael is an Intergang member who intends to take the crown for himself.

Government official Amanda Waller learns of the incident and contacts Carter Hall to assist in taking Adam into custody. Hawkman is accompanied by his fellow members of the Justice Society of America, consisting of Doctor Fate, Cyclone, and Atom Smasher, to stop Adam.

Adrianna sees an inscription on an inner part of the Crown which states "Life is the only way to death". Adrianna's son Amon sees Adam as Khandaq's hero, but Adam denies it and departs. Wanting to prove to Kahndaq that their champion has reawakened, Amon makes a ruckus with the Intergang, successfully leading Adam to intervene and overpower them. The JSA arrive in time to stop Adam from doing further destruction. As they fight, Fate senses that Adrianna has the Crown of Sabbac. They manage to stop Adam for a while before he flees to the ruins of Akh-Ton's palace. The JSA ask Adrianna to give them the crown, but she declines until they tell her the truth that Adam was the one who lost control of his power five thousand years ago and destroyed most of Khandaq.

The crown is given to Amon, who takes it back home. Ishmael is there with Karim, and reveals his true colors. Amon runs away from Ishmael, who shoots and wounds Karim, and chases Amon. Meanwhile, Adrianna and the JSA meet Adam, and attempt to convince him that he can be a hero to Khandaq, before Amon calls Adrianna, who pleads to Adam to save him. Adam immediately comes to the rescue, but Ishmael manages to abduct Amon and flees on an Eternium bike. Adam tries to rescue Amon by dealing with the Intergang on bikes to no avail. As Adam goes back to Adrianna's home, Hawkman manages to capture two Intergang members and interrogate them about their hideout. Adam uses brute force to interrogate both of them and learns where the Intergang's hideout is, but his way of interrogation enrages Hawkman. As Adam and Hawkman fight, they find that Amon hid the Crown of Sabbac in plain sight. They intend to use the Crown to trade with Amon and must fight side by side to save him. On their way, Fate reveals to Hawkman of his premonition about Hawkman's death.

They reach Ishmael, who reveals that he is the last descendant of King Akh-Ton and, wanting his rightful place in the throne, demands the crown, which Adrianna willingly gives to save Amon's life. Unfortunately, Ishmael betrays his part of the deal by shooting Amon and putting the crown on himself. As Adam tries to save Amon, he loses control again and destroys the hideout with his power, until the JSA protects Amon and Adrianna as Ishmael dies in the process.

Guilt-ridden, Adam flees to the ruins again. There, he reveals to Hawkman that it was actually Hurut, his son, who was Khandaq's champion; knowing that Hurut was invincible, the king's men executed Hurut's family instead, killing Isis and mortally wounding Adam in the process. Hurut gave his power to Adam to save him, but Akh-Ton's archer managed to kill the now-powerless Hurut. Enraged, Adam slaughtered all of the king's men, before he was summoned by the wizards of Shazam, who imprisoned him after deeming him unworthy. Feeling incapable of becoming Khandaq's champion and protecting it, Adam then surrenders to the JSA, who take him to Waller's underwater prison. Soon after, Fate continues to see the ominous premonition. It is later revealed that Ishmael intentionally made Adam kill him so that he can be reborn as Sabbac, which he succeeds in doing so, and arises from the underworld to Khandaq to claim his throne.

The JSA arrive in time trying to stop Sabbac, who summons the undead to Khandaq. Adrianna and Amon fight them, with Karim joining them. Amon asks for the people of Khandaq to fight together against the undead for Kahndaq's freedom.

The JSA prepare to face Sabbac in Akh-Ton's ruins. However, Fate creates a magical force field which forbids Hawkman, Cyclone and Atom Smasher from coming into the ruins, and reveals that Hawkman's death can be avoided, with Fate's sacrifice. Fate then fights Sabbac alone, and at the same time uses astral projection to release Adam from his suspended animation so Adam can help them. Adam manages to escape the prison, but Sabbac kills Fate. Fate's death causes the force field to disappear, allowing Hawkman, Cyclone and Atom Smasher try to fight Sabbac, who overpowers them. Just as he is about to kill the JSA, Adam arrives, and engages Sabbac, but is slowly losing as Sabbac's power can harm him. Hawkman uses Fate's helmet to create magical duplicates and spells, having learned from Fate, to help Adam kill Sabbac, ultimately stopping the undead.

The JSA depart on good terms with Adam, who accepts his new role as protector of Khandaq rather than its ruler. In a mid-credits scene, Waller communicates with a defiant Adam, warning him about forces ready to stop him, before he is confronted by Superman.

Cast

• Dwayne Johnson as Black Adam
• Aldis Hodge as Carter Hall / Hawkman
• Noah Centineo as Albert "Al" Rothstein / Atom Smasher
• Sarah Shahi as Adrianna Tomaz
• Marwan Kenzari as Ishmael Gregor / Sabbac, Marwan Kenzari
• Quintessa Swindell as Maxine Hunkel / Cyclone
• Bodhi Sabongui as Amon Tomaz
• Pierce Brosnan as Kent Nelson / Doctor Fate

Production

2000s

New Line Cinema began the development of a Shazam feature film. Peter Segal signed on to direct the film in April 2006, and Dwayne Johnson was approached about portraying Captain Marvel later that year. By November 2007, Johnson was also interested in the film's antagonist, Black Adam, and had received positive responses from fans about him possibly playing that character. Development on the film was placed on hold by January 2009.

2014

Production begun again by April when Warner Bros. and DC began planning a slate of superhero films for its shared universe, the DC Extended Universe (DCEU). That August, Johnson said he was still attached to the film but had not yet decided if he would play Captain Marvel or Black Adam. A month later, Johnson announced that he would portray Black Adam. Johnson was paid $22.5 million for his involvement.

2017

In January 2017, Johnson met with then-President of DC, Geoff Johns to discuss the project after studio executives grew concerned that an actor of Johnson's profile was being used as a villain and supporting character in the film instead of starring in it. Following that meeting, they decided to split the project into two films: Shazam! (2019), starring Zachary Levi as Shazam and Asher Angel as Billy Batson; and Black Adam, with Johnson starring as the title antihero. Johnson said the two characters would meet onscreen in the future. Johns confirmed in July that Johnson would not appear in Shazam!, though his likeness is used in that film for a magical hologram of Black Adam conjured by the wizard Shazam.

Adam Sztykiel was hired to write the screenplay for Black Adam in October 2017, with Johnson set to produce the film with Dany and Hiram Garcia of Seven Bucks Productions along with Beau Flynn of FlynnPictureCo. At that time, there were plans for Johnson to first appear as Black Adam in a sequel to Suicide Squad (2016), which had Gavin O'Connor attached as writer and possible director. The intention was for the members of the Suicide Squad to be tracking a weapon of mass destruction which would be revealed as Black Adam in a small role for Johnson.

2018

The sequel to Suicide Squad was abandoned when O'Connor left the film.

Sztykiel completed a draft of the script by April 2018, when Johnson said there was potential for filming to begin in 2019. At the end of August, Sztykiel handed in another draft and further revisions were underway. Hiram Garcia said then that giving Shazam and Black Adam their own films was allowing the best movie for each character to be developed, and he added that their depiction of Black Adam was not going to be "softened up for audiences", explaining that he is "not the boy scout superhero, he's the guy that's like, okay, you cross him? Well, I rip your head off". In December, Johnson said filming would not begin until the end of 2019 at the earliest due to his commitments to Jumanji: The Next Level (2019) and Red Notice (2021).

2019

After the successful release of Shazam!, Black Adam became a priority for New Line. By June, Jaume Collet-Serra was in talks to direct the film after impressing Johnson as the director of Jungle Cruise (2021). Collet-Serra described Black Adam as the Dirty Harry of superheroes, and said the film would show a darker version of Johnson compared to the adventure comedy Jungle Cruise. Johnson revealed in October that filming would begin in July 2020, and announced the following month that Black Adam was scheduled to be released on December 22, 2021. He also said Shazam would not appear in the film, but members of the Justice Society of America (JSA) would be introduced.

2020

Johnson stated in mid-April that filming had been delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and they were now planning to begin production in August or September of that year. By July, filming was expected to begin in early 2021 in Atlanta, Georgia, and Noah Centineo was cast as Atom Smasher. During the virtual DC FanDome event in August, Johnson revealed that the film's version of the JSA would include Hawkman, Doctor Fate, and Cyclone, in addition to Atom Smasher. He explained that Hawkgirl was originally included in the team, but for a complicated reason she ultimately could not be used in the film and was replaced with Cyclone. Stargirl was also going to appear in the movie, but was cut.

Rory Haines and Sohrab Noshirvani had written a new draft of the script by September, when Aldis Hodge was cast as Hawkman. Collet-Serra discussed his comparisons of the character of Dirty Harry with Johnson, saying "The systems were corrupt, so you had criminals taking advantage. You needed a cop that would cut through the bullshit and basically do what needed to be done. That's very much in line with Black Adam and his way of thinking. I think that's appealing to pretty much everybody. Everybody knows how the world sometimes is not fair, and you need people that break the rules to even out the playing field." Johnson remarked that "the Black in Black Adam refers to his soul", and described his worldview as "myopic", adding that for Adam, "There's no room or space for him being wrong. There's no room or space for anyone else's opinion. There's only room and space for him to justify anything that he does because of his pain. And he pushes and pushes and pushes and does not see any other way. It's very black and white."

The next month, Warner Bros. adjusted their upcoming release schedule due to the pandemic, leaving Black Adam without a release date. Later in October, Sarah Shahi joined the cast as Adrianna Tomaz. Quintessa Swindell was cast as Cyclone in December.

2021

Marwan Kenzari joined the cast in February.

Filming was expected to begin that April, with the construction of the sets beginning by mid-March. Pierce Brosnan was cast as Kent Nelson / Doctor Fate at the end of March, and the film was given a new release date of July 29, 2022. In April, James Cusati-Moyer, Bodhi Sabongui, Mo Amer, and Uli Latukefu joined the cast in undisclosed roles. Latukefu previously worked with Johnson on the series Young Rock, while Sabongui's character was described as a key role from the Black Adam comics.

Principal photography began on April 10, 2021, at Trilith Studios in Atlanta, Georgia, with Lawrence Sher serving as cinematographer after previously shooting DC's Joker (2019). Johnson said on June 20, 2021, that there were three weeks left of filming, and on July 15 he announced that he had completed his scenes. Filming then continued without Johnson for several weeks, with the production moving to Los Angeles, and had wrapped by August 15.

Bill Westenhofer serves as the visual effects supervisor for the film, after doing so for the DCEU film Wonder Woman (2017), while John Lee and Michael L. Sale are the editors. Visual effects vendors included Wētā FX, UPP, Scanline VFX, Digital Domain, DNEG, Rodeo VFX, Lola VFX, Cantina Creative, Tippett Studio, and EDI Effetti Digitali Italiani. Wētā worked on the final battle sequence, which contains many shots that were entirely digital.

2022

In March, Warner Bros. adjusted its release schedule due to the impacts of COVID-19 on the workload of visual effects vendors. Black Adam was pushed back to October 21, with The Flash and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom moved from late 2022 into 2023 to allow time for their visual effects work to be completed. The delay for Black Adam was also reportedly due to reshoots that were scheduled for February having to be postponed because most of the studio space at Trilith was being taken up by production on Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023). Once shooting for that film ended, reshoots for Black Adam began in early May, and had concluded early the next month. Initially greenlit on a $190 million budget, the final cost of the film ballooned to as much as $260 million due to the reshoots. Collet-Serra confirmed that work on the film had been completed with a picture lock being achieved by July.

Final writing credits were given to Sztykiel, Haines, and Noshirvani, while an additional literary material credit was attributed to David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick who scribed DC's Aquaman (2018). In October, Djimon Hounsou and Jennifer Holland were revealed to be reprising their respective DCEU roles as Shazam and Emilia Harcourt, the former from Shazam! (2019), and the latter from The Suicide Squad (2021) and the first season of Peacemaker. The film initially received an R rating due to several gruesome death scenes and many cuts had to be made to the film to receive the lower PG-13 rating.