In an unexpected announcement, Warner Bros. shared the official release dates for Black Adam on digital and physical media, just prior to the coming Thanksgiving weekend.
The theatrical debut of Black Adam set the highest opening for a movie starring Dwayne Johnson. It also introduced the Justice Society of America in live action and brought back Henry Cavill as Superman to the DC Universe. But it has also received mediocre critic reviews, which contrasts its high audience scores.
But why was the digital release announced to be available just prior to the Thanksgiving holidays? Read on for more of the details.
On Monday, November 21, Warner Bros. shared the announcement of the release dates for Black Adam on home media, including digital and physical versions.
#BlackAdam has arrived with a vengeance. Own the film on Digital now. pic.twitter.com/bDu1BjyuRB
— Black Adam Movie (@blackadammovie) November 22, 2022
This comes as a surprise, as the Dwayne Johnson-led DCEU superhero film has not been out for 45 days, which was the earliest a theatrical release would make it to digital during the pandemic period.
In addition, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav had gone on record to state that theatrical releases will have a longer period before being released to streaming, as part of their overhaul:
At Warner Bros. Discovery, we believe strongly in the importance of preserving optionality and driving returns to a strategic mix of distribution and windowing options. For example, we will fully embrace theatrical as we believe that creates interest and demand provides a great marketing tailwind and generates word of mouth buzz as films transition to streaming and beyond.
The WBD chief executive added:
When you're in theaters, the value of the content and the overall viewing experience is elevated. Then when the same content moves to VOD, and then streaming it is elevated again. As films move from one window to the next their overall value is elevated, elevated, elevated. We saw this clearly demonstrated with The Batman and Elvis.
However, there have been reports that the film has been pirated and HD/4K copies are being illegally circulated. Thus, Warner Bros. officially releasing the digital version to be available for purchase online is more than likely a response to this unfortunate development.
The digital and physical media versions of Black Adam will include the following features:
- 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
There is also a Walmart exclusive of the 4K Ultra HD, Blu-Ray, and digital versions that can be pre-ordered for $39.96 and includes a Funko Pop of Black Adam.
Note that the digital release only applies to video on demand (VOD) for now. Black Adam will not be available for the HBO Max streaming service at least until after the minimum 45-day window has passed.
Black Adam is available on digital VOD on Google Play, iTunes, Amazon, Microsoft Store, and Vudu as of November 22. It will be available on physical media on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-Ray, and DVD formats on January 3, 2023.
