Dwayne Johnson Insisted His Alcohol Be Served At Black Adam Family Premiere Event
Dwayne Johnson insisted a tequila bar be set up at the Black Adam premiere, despite the film being PG-13, just one of many decisions made by the star that angered Warner Bros. Discovery executives.
Variety’s report about what’s going on behind the scenes at DC has revealed plenty of interesting tidbits, including the downfall of Dwayne Johnson’s future at the company, after Black Adam. While the relatively disappointing box office performance of Black Adam undoubtedly played a role, Johnson was also apparently stepping on toes over at Warner Bros. Discovery. According to Variety’s sources, one point of annoyance for the Warner execs was Johnson’s attempt to get a tequila bar featuring his Teremana brand at the New York premiere for Black Adam, despite the film being PG-13.
Of course, asking for a tequila bar isn’t enough to get an actor shelved from a franchise, especially if that actor is as popular as Dwayne Johnson. There were other factors at play too, apparently, Johnson pitched a plan directly to CEO David Zaslav to interweave his Black Adam character and Henry Cavill’s Superman throughout multiple projects. This reportedly upset some Warner execs as a source said they felt Johnson “went around everyone, which didn’t sit well.”
The nail in the coffin was when Black Adam failed to meet box office expectations, so it seems like we won’t be seeing Dwayne Johnson in the ongoing DCU anytime soon. James Gunn and Peter Safran are developing their own plan for the DCU going forward, and it appears that Johnson, Henry Cavill, and possibly even Gal Gadot won’t be a part of that plan.
Although we might not have Dwayne Johnson’s Black Adam in the future DCU, there are still plenty of projects still on track to release. The next DC project we’ll see is Shazam! Fury of the Gods, which will see Shazam and his family facing the daughters of Atlas. DC will also be releasing Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, The Flash, Blue Beetle, Peacemaker Season 2, and the Green Lantern HBO series in the future.
While you can kick Dwayne Johnson out of a major superhero franchise, you certainly can’t keep him down. The wrestler-turned-actor has plenty of blockbusters lined up for the near future, so he’s probably not hurting too badly from the Black Adam decision. The next film we’ll likely see from Johnson is Red One, which is slated for a 2023 release date.
Red One is keeping the plot under wraps for now, but the film is set to be an action-comedy. Red One is directed by Jake Kasdan with a screenplay by Chris Morgan and a story by Hiram Garcia. Along with Dwayne Johnson, Red One will star Chris Evans, J.K. Simmons, Kiernan Shipka, Nick Kroll, Bonnie Hunt, and Lucy Liu.
At the moment, Red One is the only Dwayne Johnson project that has anything resembling a release window. Between acting, producing, and working on various business endeavors, Johnson only has so much time on his hands. There’s no telling when we might get films like the planned Big Trouble in Little China reboot or his King Kamehameha film The King.
Likely, we’ll just have to wait until Dwayne Johnson decides he’s ready to work on those films. In the meantime, you can see if cutting Black Adam out of the DCU was the right move, as the film is currently streaming on HBO Max. Stay tuned for more news on Johnson and his latest projects.
