Movies: DC's The Flash (starring Ezra Miller) - June 23rd, 2023

[Jussi]

‘The Flash’ Falls Down With $55M 3-Day Opening: Here’s Why

'The Flash', in the wake of its star Ezra Miller's tabloid problems and lack of press, opened to a dismal $55M

deadline.com

 

[Mario_is_BACK!!]

Blue Beetle is DOA. Just write that up for a loss.

 

[Rabid Ranger]

Blue Beetle is DOA. Just write that up for a loss.

It will be remembered for the line "Batman is a fascist!" Lol

 

[blueandgoldguy]

It was expected to open between $60 - $70 million for a few weeks now. Not a surprise.

 

[Jussi]

It was expected to open between $60 - $70 million for a few weeks now. Not a surprise.

It doesn't seem to get even into that window: ‘The Flash’ Disappoints With $55 Million Debut, Pixar’s ‘Elemental’ Flops With $29.5 Million in Battle of Box Office Lightweights

 

[Bowski]

Thank you Michael Keaton...that is all.


What a mess. WB/DC never fail to disappoint.

-CGI, kicked off with the microwave baby scene at the start, sadly laughable.

-Humor, maybe a 30% success rate.

-Story, emotional interesting subject matter mixed in with the aforementioned cheap jokes. Like good steak and bad ice cream at the same time.

I think I'm over the whole multi-universe idea in cinema after this messy display. Leave it to WB/DC to turn it into pure nonsense.

PS2 dead actors aside, the cameo at the end pretty much just farted in your face for wasting time/money to watch what you thought was a somewhat serious superhero movie.

 

[archangel2]

It was expected to open between $60 - $70 million for a few weeks now. Not a surprise.

originally it was predicted to be a first block buster of the summer. A few months ago, the opening weekend was suppose to top 100mill. I have seen the movie and liked it, but I think the people who usually flock to see these movies stayed home due to the off screen actions of the stay

 

[blueandgoldguy]

originally it was predicted to be a first block buster of the summer. A few months ago, the opening weekend was suppose to top 100mill. I have seen the movie and liked it, but I think the people who usually flock to see these movies stayed home due to the off screen actions of the stay

If it was actually predicted to do that, it must have been for a very short time (or some obscure website) I can you tell you that. For several weeks/months last year or this year it was predicted to be a bomb due to the whole Ezra Miller controversy. Then a few months ago, there was some hope for it to actually have a decent opening weekend...some estimates at $80 million on the high end....then that died off a bit to estimates of $60 million. At no time did I ever see a prediction of $100 million. Whoever predicted that probably wouldn't be taken seriously.

The studio will be happy keeping their losses to moderate levels given the shitstorm surrounding this movie and its main star. Maybe it does $400 million Worldwide? We will have a better idea in a few weeks.

 

[archangel2]

If it was actually predicted to do that, it must have been for a very short time (or some obscure website) I can you tell you that. For several weeks/months last year or this year it was predicted to be a bomb due to the whole Ezra Miller controversy. Then a few months ago, there was some hope for it to actually have a decent opening weekend...some estimates at $80 million on the high end....then that died off a bit to estimates of $60 million. At no time did I ever see a prediction of $100 million. Whoever predicted that probably wouldn't be taken seriously.

The studio will be happy keeping their losses to moderate levels given the shitstorm surrounding this movie and its main star. Maybe it does $400 million Worldwide? We will have a better idea in a few weeks.

You are rewriting history. It was predicted early on to be a blockbuster. It was only after the problems with the actor it was downgraded.

 

[blueandgoldguy]

You are rewriting history. It was predicted early on to be a blockbuster. It was only after the problems with the actor it was downgraded.

I doubt it. Who said it would be a blockbuster? Especially after the financial failures of nearly all the recent DC movies up to that point - Justice League, Harley Quinn, Suicide Squad, Wonderwoman 1984. The Flash was clearly a lesser hero compared to Aquaman, Batman, Superman and Wonder Women so that's another mark against it. I highly doubt there was anyone with credibility predicting an $800 million box office.

 

[Jumptheshark]

I doubt it. Who said it would be a blockbuster? Especially after the financial failures of nearly all the recent DC movies up to that point - Justice League, Harley Quinn, Suicide Squad, Wonderwoman 1984. The Flash was clearly a lesser hero compared to Aquaman, Batman, Superman and Wonder Women so that's another mark against it. I highly doubt there was anyone with credibility predicting an $800 million box office.

there is a site called HSX.com--it is a virtual stock market for movies and other stuff. It's prices for movie stocks is based upon real world news and events. up to the actors first arrest, flash stock was trading at a 400 mill value as up till the time of the arrests and movie getting shifted around, it was predicted to be a block buster----that was prior to Gunn taking over and mass reshoots of movies either complete or being shot. About 6 months ago, the value went down to under 100 mill.

 

[Rabid Ranger]

The Flash is underperforming but I'm not sure the primary reason is Ezra Miller and his dirty laundry.

 

[StreetHawk]

I think the heyday of these mega hundred million dollars to a billion dollars box offices will be fewer and far between. Movie legitimately has to be good to warrant that kind of expected box office. If it's not, it will fall short, way short of those expectations.

Better writing, plus tighter budgets are going to be needed moving forward. Some of these budgets are kind of insane. Should be looking to cut 20-30% of the costs moving forward.

 

[Satan'sIsland81]

I have to completely disagree with most of the takes on this movie here and elsewhere. I personally loved it. Loved everything about it. I actually thought it ended up being far better than I was expecting it to be. There was a plot with actual depth to the characters (it was not just super beings fighting each other for the heck of it). There was motivation and purpose to what took place. I thought the comedy was hilarious, with probably a dozen laugh out loud moments. The acting was great ( Ezra Miller was great in dual roles, I dont care what anybody says). There were great emotional moments. Hearing the Batman 1989 theme, seeing Keaton back in the suit and seeing the batmobile and batplane from those movies brought chills. The easter eggs were awesome and the cameos were all brilliant.

I consider the Dark Knight trilogy and the Robert Pattinson Batman to be on different scales because they are more serious and grounded in reality. But as far as the DCEU movies, this was my favorite by a long shot. It is a shame it is not getting the recognition and boxoffice results that it deserves.

 

[Jumptheshark]

I agree but disagree on some aspects of what he says. The movie was finished nearly 2 years ago and they kept playing with it in editing. Maybe too much, The list of cameos that were cut is more interesting than the ones that are in it.

I have seen it and found it uneven. I think they had too much time on their hands and because the Flash was originally finished with the old DCEU guys in charge and then changed when Gunn came aboard and his group started to play with it and mould it to what they wanted.

Originally the DCEU was supposed to be more gritty vs the Marvel--shinny happy type they do sometimes.

here is my breakdown of why this bombed

1) The actors problems--it has been discussed here and this is the not the 1980's where actors could do what they want with no problem.
2) Reshoots--I think we will see a directors cut in 10 years time that removes all the reshoots done. For me the movie was entertaining but uneven and I believe it was due to the decision being made to use it as a reboot of the DCEU. A rough cut of the movie was shown to executives in early 2022--Gunn came aboard a short time later and was allowed to do his thing to the movie.
3) Guess how many writers names appears in the credits with the Writers Guild of America? Some say 30 others say it is as high as 45.--that is never a good sign.
4) Moving the release date hurt it. Like I said--I believe we will see a directors cut that is different than the movie we saw in theatres.
5) The Flash TV series was still fresh in the core audiences mind and they did a lot of what was done in the movie in the TV series over the years. So we saw an over saturation of the Flash in my opinion.
6) Due to the actors problems--they could not do the usually press interviews and what not. It is hard to sell a movie when the lead can not do interviews unless the company has complete control over all questions asked and had the right edit the interviews. Even the usual Hollywood shills refused to play their usual PR game when pushing a movie this time around because of how restrictive the rules were to be.
7) Also--DCEU burnout. As the video points out--Gunn has undone some of the stuff that Snyder has set up.

Hopefully the suits will let Gunn have full control over the DCEU like Marvel has given Fiege. Disney and Marvel let Fiege alone for the most part and his crew run the show. Too many people have input into the DCEU and they keep changing just what they want to do and how they want to do it.

 

[PeteWorrell]

I think the heyday of these mega hundred million dollars to a billion dollars box offices will be fewer and far between. Movie legitimately has to be good to warrant that kind of expected box office. If it's not, it will fall short, way short of those expectations.

Better writing, plus tighter budgets are going to be needed moving forward. Some of these budgets are kind of insane. Should be looking to cut 20-30% of the costs moving forward.

Many of these super productions have had wonky CGI lately. You have to wonder if some executives are not taking huge cuts to pay themselves. It makes no sense how older movies with smaller budgets look better than many modern movies with more than twice the budget.

 

[Jussi]

Many of these super productions have had wonky CGI lately. You have to wonder if some executives are not taking huge cuts to pay themselves. It makes no sense how older movies with smaller budgets look better than many modern movies with more than twice the budget.

I don't know about the details of this movie but the pandemic did cause a huge bottleneck on VFX production. Everything is delayed throughout the industry. Also, it doesn't help that the whole VFX industry is wonky, companies are bidding each other to studios so low that they end up making losses for projects.

 

[StreetHawk]

I don't know about the details of this movie but the pandemic did cause a huge bottleneck on VFX production. Everything is delayed throughout the industry. Also, it doesn't help that the whole VFX industry is wonky, companies are bidding each other to studios so low that they end up making losses for projects.

I do wonder if studios would consider adding their own VFX departments. Seems like they need their own.

 

[Jussi]

I do wonder if studios would consider adding their own VFX departments. Seems like they need their own.

That would be hard since there is also a major shortage of VFX workers in general.

 

[Mario_is_BACK!!]

Warner Bros/Discovery would have been better off releasing this on Max. Or eating it all together. What a flop.

THE FLASH Would Have Likely Lost Less Money Had It Been Released On Max Instead On In Theaters

The Flash may have managed to pass $200 million at the worldwide box office this weekend, but it appears Warner Bros. would have lost less money on the movie had they just dumped it on streaming instead.

comicbookmovie.com

 

[beowulf]

With all this terrible news about the movie, I have not let the nostalgia of wanting to see Keaton as Batman again pull me into a theater to see this yet...doubt I will which will be the second DC movie in a row, after Shazam 2, that I skip in theaters.

 

[Blackhawkswincup]

 

[Say Hey Kid]

DC could be successful if they do the one thing they've always done well. Make movies about one character w/o crossovers.

 

[PeteWorrell]

They cancelled the Batgirl movie and they released this. It really makes you wonder how bad that was for it to be shelved.

 

[Jussi]

Seems to be heading to streaming on July 18th.