Dwayne Johnson Says ‘Black Adam’ Did Not Get A Sequel Because Of “A Vortex Of New Leadership” At Warner Bros. & DC

deadline.com:

In a just-released clip from his Peacock show Hart to Heart, Kevin Hart asks Dwayne Johnson why, given what Hart sees as a successful opening and “an appetite from your fan base,” Black Adam didn’t get a sequel. “I think that Black Adam got caught in a vortex of new leadership,” Johnson answers, adding that it “got knocked down a bit” because of Covid-related stoppages.

Johnson then moved back to issues with leadership. “It was so many changes in leadership. Anytime you have a company, a publicly-traded company, and you have all those changes in leadership, you have people coming in who creatively, fiscally, are going to make decisions that you may not agree with, philosophically.” Last December, Johnson took to social media to relate a conversation with DC Studios co-head James Gunn that Black Adam wouldn’t be a part of the first phase of DC’s new plans. “However, DC and Seven Bucks have agreed to continue exploring the most valuable ways Black Adam can be utilized in future DC multiverse chapters,” Johnson wrote.

He then made clear, “These decisions made by James and DC leadership represent their vision of DCU through their creative lens.”  That followed the much-discussed decision by then-new Warner Bros.

Discovery CEO David Zaslav to scrap the nearly-completed Batgirl film that cost that cost $60 million-$70 million. With some time between then and now, Johnson tells Hart, “I think Black Adam is one of those movies that got caught in that web of new leadership.