Black Adam is igniting Dubai landmarks ahead of the superhero film's release next Thursday.
In a new promotional video, the DC Comics character, played by Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, is seen flying across Burj Khalifa, Burj Al Arab and the Museum of the Future, electrifying them with his trademark lightning bolt.
In the comics and the movie, Black Adam has many powers, including using a lightning bolt as a weapon as well as interdimensional or time travel.
"Hello Dubai, Dwayne Johnson here. And I'm so excited to report to you guys that Black Adam, my new movie, is already lighting up the city and taking over some of the coolest landmarks and the world's tallest building, the Burj Khalifa," the Hollywood star says in the video.
More than a decade in the making, Black Adam is a passion project of Johnson's, who first unveiled a snippet from the film in October last year.
"I've worked these fingers to the bone. Because it's the kind of project that comes once in a lifetime," Johnson said at DC FanDome, a virtual event to promote DC Comics' films and shows scheduled for release.
Reuniting with director Jaume Collet-Serra, whom he worked with in the hit Disney film Jungle Cruise, Johnson is also the producer of the film and officially signed on for the role in 2014.
“This film, this universe has been a gigantic passion project of mine for a very long time,” the actor said. “The film has without question some of the biggest action sequences I have ever been a part of."
Black Adam, the character, is a warrior who has been imprisoned for 5,000 years and is reborn in the modern world, gifted with supernatural abilities and desperate to exact revenge on those he thinks have wronged him. Superhero team, Justice Society of American, then try to stop his rampage and teach him how to use his powers for the greater good.
Early reactions to the film have largely been positive, after a special screening in New York City on Wednesday night, with one reviewer even calling it a "game changer".
Film commentator Erik Davis said Black Adam "rocks", leaving him wanting more.
"Comic book films that have momentum, emotion and a strong layered mythology are always the most entertaining to me," he said.
Writer Joseph Deckelmeier says it is the DC Comics movie he'd been waiting for.
"Black Adam is a game-changer! The Rock is electrifyingly brutal as Black Adam. This is what I wanted Black Adam to be," he tweeted.
With a backstory set in Egypt, the film also features a number of Middle Eastern actors, including Palestinian-American comedian Mo Amer, Tunisian-Dutch actor Marwan Kenzari and American actress Sarah Shahi, whose father is from Iran.
Other cast members include Noah Centineo as Al Rothstein/Atom Smasher; Pierce Brosnan as Kent Nelson/Doctor Fate; Aldis Hodge as Carter Hall/Hawkman; and Djimon Hounsou as Shazam.
Black Adam is in cinemas on October 20
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If you’re going to go grey, a great style, well-cared for hair (in a sleek, classy style, like a bob), and a young spirit and attitude go a long way, says Maria Dowling, founder of the Maria Dowling Salon in Dubai.
It’s easier to go grey from a lighter colour, so you may want to do that first. And this is the time to try a shorter style, she advises. Then a stylist can introduce highlights, start lightening up the roots, and let it fade out. Once it’s entirely grey, a purple shampoo will prevent yellowing.
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How Tesla’s price correction has hit fund managers
Investing in disruptive technology can be a bumpy ride, as investors in Tesla were reminded on Friday, when its stock dropped 7.5 per cent in early trading to $575.
It recovered slightly but still ended the week 15 per cent lower and is down a third from its all-time high of $883 on January 26. The electric car maker’s market cap fell from $834 billion to about $567bn in that time, a drop of an astonishing $267bn, and a blow for those who bought Tesla stock late.
The collapse also hit fund managers that have gone big on Tesla, notably the UK-based Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust and Cathie Wood’s ARK Innovation ETF.
Tesla is the top holding in both funds, making up a hefty 10 per cent of total assets under management. Both funds have fallen by a quarter in the past month.
Matt Weller, global head of market research at GAIN Capital, recently warned that Tesla founder Elon Musk had “flown a bit too close to the sun”, after getting carried away by investing $1.5bn of the company’s money in Bitcoin.
He also predicted Tesla’s sales could struggle as traditional auto manufacturers ramp up electric car production, destroying its first mover advantage.
AJ Bell’s Russ Mould warns that many investors buy tech stocks when earnings forecasts are rising, almost regardless of valuation. “When it works, it really works. But when it goes wrong, elevated valuations leave little or no downside protection.”
A Tesla correction was probably baked in after last year’s astonishing share price surge, and many investors will see this as an opportunity to load up at a reduced price.
Dramatic swings are to be expected when investing in disruptive technology, as Ms Wood at ARK makes clear.
Every week, she sends subscribers a commentary listing “stocks in our strategies that have appreciated or dropped more than 15 per cent in a day” during the week.
Her latest commentary, issued on Friday, showed seven stocks displaying extreme volatility, led by ExOne, a leader in binder jetting 3D printing technology. It jumped 24 per cent, boosted by news that fellow 3D printing specialist Stratasys had beaten fourth-quarter revenues and earnings expectations, seen as good news for the sector.
By contrast, computational drug and material discovery company Schrödinger fell 27 per cent after quarterly and full-year results showed its core software sales and drug development pipeline slowing.
Despite that setback, Ms Wood remains positive, arguing that its “medicinal chemistry platform offers a powerful and unique view into chemical space”.
In her weekly video view, she remains bullish, stating that: “We are on the right side of change, and disruptive innovation is going to deliver exponential growth trajectories for many of our companies, in fact, most of them.”
Ms Wood remains committed to Tesla as she expects global electric car sales to compound at an average annual rate of 82 per cent for the next five years.
She said these are so “enormous that some people find them unbelievable”, and argues that this scepticism, especially among institutional investors, “festers” and creates a great opportunity for ARK.
Only you can decide whether you are a believer or a festering sceptic. If it’s the former, then buckle up.
