With an 85% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, you'd think "The Flash" would be killing it
at the box office.
Unfortunately, this isn't the case, and we're here to tell you why.
After one of the most chaotic and controversial production cycles seen in recent years, "The
Flash" is finally in theaters.
"Oh my god!
Flash!"
"Hi."
"I love you!"
The superhero flick was released on June 16 in the United States, backed by a hefty budget
of $200 million, with an additional $100 million reportedly being spent on marketing.
As of now, according to recent box-office reports by Deadline and Variety, it doesn't
look like Warner Bros. will be celebrating the film's returns any time soon.
In the United States, "The Flash" only earned around $55 million during its first three
days, and projections for the future are not looking good.
Internationally, the movie seems only to have captured around $75 million.
Overall, "The Flash" has only made about $139 million thus far — definitely not what studio
heads were hoping for.
This may come as an awkward surprise since the film was being touted as one of the best
superhero flicks ever made prior to its release, with comparisons to "The Dark Knight" being
brought up earlier in the year.
"Very poor choice of words."
Ahead of its release, the movie had several high-profile supporters.
Naturally, DCU boss James Gunn had monumental praise for "The Flash."
Allegedly, Tom Cruise personally professed how much he loved the film to director Andy Muschietti.
So what went wrong?
Simply put, "The Flash" was severely hindered due to the nearly countless allegations against
Ezra Miller.
With multiple arrests and accusations of assault, allegations of grooming minors, and felony
burglary charges, the accounts against the actor appeared endless before the film entered
its promotional phase.
Asking even the most ardent comic book fan to get thrilled about a long-awaited superhero
flick is a tall order when the main star is constantly making headlines for all the wrong reasons.
Of course, Warner Bros. worked hard to shield the film from the immense controversy.
Aside from attending the Los Angeles premiere, Miller had next to no involvement in promoting
"The Flash."
Sasha Calle, who portrayed Supergirl, was a prominent interviewee leading up to the
film's release.
And, of course, the movie's trailers were quick to put an emphasis on the multiple returning Batmen.
"The Flash" featured Ben Affleck donning the cowl once more and also saw Michael Keaton
reprise the role for the first time since 1992's "Batman Returns."
"You wanna get nuts?
Let's get nuts."
Closer to the official release, smaller cameos were also hyped; Muschietti revealed Nicolas
Cage would appear as Superman before the movie was released, though he later claimed this
was an accidental leak.
As fun as all these appearances and Easter eggs might be for fans, Ezra Miller's name
is simply proving to be too cumbersome.
Despite the glowing and well-publicized praise "The Flash" received prior to hitting the
silver screen, the movie seems to be getting a lukewarm response from critics, with a score
of 66% on Rotten Tomatoes.
The audience score was much more positive, sitting at around 85%, and Cinemascore gave
the movie a B. In addition, Looper's own Dominic Griffin assigned the movie a middling 5/10 rating.
These certainly aren't the worst scores, especially for a superhero movie.
However, a film with the amount of baggage "The Flash" carries needs to be great.
It needs to inspire; it needs to drum up endless excitement.
In short, "The Flash" needed to be borderline perfect.
While an average Marvel film might have fared okay with these reviews, "The Flash" most
certainly does not have that luxury.
For about a decade now, superhero fans have been wary of DC films.
While Warner Bros. has proven they can knock it out of the park with some of their properties,
their latest films have received little fanfare or worthwhile praise.
"Black Adam" was released in October 2022, and despite boasting Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson
and a strong supporting cast, the film faltered at the box office and received little praise
from critics.
"He didn't make it."
In March 2023, despite the success of its predecessor, "Shazam!
Fury of the Gods" was met with dismal box-office earnings, receiving only $133 million on a
budget of around $125 million.
Reviews weren't kind, either.
Combined with Ezra Miller's numerous controversies and the mediocre reviews, fans may have found
it easy to pass on the Scarlet Speedster's adventure after remembering some of DC's latest
cinematic outings.
Another reason that "The Flash" isn't performing well is that "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse"
was released on June 2nd, and its impressive run at the box-office is still going strong.
As of the making of this video, the film has reportedly raked in close to $500 million.
And not too surprisingly, the Webhead is proving to be tough competition for everyone at the
box office, not just "The Flash."
Disney and Pixar's "Elemental" was also released on June 16th, and is facing similar struggles
at the box office.
With an estimated budget of $200 million, the Pixar flick reportedly debuted at only
$29.5 million.
It looks like "Elemental" and "The Flash" might be on the same leaky boat, and that
rascal Miles Morales might be partly to blame.
It'll be interesting to track "The Flash" as it treks through its days in theaters.
It still has time to make some type of financial splash, but it's not looking good so far.