Box Office: ‘Black Adam’ Scores Career Best $67M Debut For Dwayne Johnson

  1. Black Adam (review)- $67M

The Rock’s long in-the-works Black Adam smashed its way to $67M domestically and $140M worldwide. The stateside numbers are Dwayne Johnson’s best ever for a movie that isn’t part of the Fast & Furious franchise. This is all despite anemic Rotten Tomatoes score of 40% among critics, while the 90% audience score suggests it could perform decently in the coming weeks. At a $195M budget it will need a few more weeks of strong numbers, but it will face stiff competition in November when Black Panther: Wakanda Forever arrives. For Johnson, his star power remains strong. I’m not sure anybody would have cared about a Black Adam movie if it wasn’t for him and his years of effort to put this character on the map.

2. Ticket to Paradise (review)- $16.3M

While the formula doesn’t always work, the star-driven romantic-comedy is alive and well. George Clooney and Julia Roberts’ Ticket to Paradise opened with a solid $16M. That’s atop the $80M internationally as part of a slow rollout, making the overall total $96M. Earlier this year, The Lost City legged it out to $190M globally. I don’t see Ticket to Paradise reaching that height, but it’s good to know there’s still a place for these movies out there because for a while there wasn’t.

3. Smile– $8.3M/$84.3M

4. Halloween Ends– $8M/$54.1M

Last week’s top earner, Halloween Ends, got slaughtered with an 80% drop and just $8M for a $54M total. Last week was for the horror die-hards, who ventured out to see Michael Myers meet his end in theaters rather than on Peacock streaming. Today, the film came crashing back down to Earth.

5. Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile– $4.2M/$28.7M

6. The Woman King– $1.9M/$62.8M

7. Terrifier 2– $1.8M/$5.2M

8. Don’t Worry Darling– $880K/$44.2M

9. Amsterdam– $818K/$13.9M

10. Triangle of Sadness (review)- $600K/$1.4M

Travis Hopson
Travis Hopson has been reviewing movies before he even knew there was such a thing. Having grown up on a combination of bad '80s movies, pro wrestling, comic books, and hip-hop, Travis is uniquely positioned to geek out on just about everything under the sun. A vampire who walks during the day and refuses to sleep, Travis is the co-creator and lead writer for Punch Drunk Critics. He is also a contributor to Good Morning Washington, WBAL Morning News, and WETA Around Town. In the five minutes a day he's not working, Travis is also a voice actor, podcaster, and Twitch gamer. Travis is a voting member of the Critics Choice Association (CCA), Washington DC Area Film Critics Association (WAFCA), and Late Night programmer for the Lakefront Film Festival.