This one is an ouch for WB because the opening weekend box office for The Flash is lower than Black Adam. The Flash just came out and despite claims it was one of the better DCEU movies, the franchise still seems to be failing to engage with audiences. Deadline reports that box office is far lower than expected for this opening weekend and points to several factors for why that is.
That was the big looming question which was on everyone’s minds in the wake of Ezra Miller’s tabloid laden 2020-2022 in regards to Warner Bros. DC’s $200M The Flash, and now we have our answer as the pic is opening to $55.1M over 3-days and $64M for the 4-day Juneteenth holiday weekend at 4,234 theaters, below Warner’s $70M-$75M 3-day expectations. 3-day projections just kept losing speed for this Andy Muschietti-directed movie.
The trade wonders whether having the majority of their stars, including lead Ezra Miller unavailable for any press promotion prior to release was a factor? Though, given Miller’s recent brushes with the law, I’m sure WB felt it could be worse to have them front and center.
Black Adam, which was considered a flop, made $67M across the first three days. That remains is well ahead of The Flash across the same days. In contrast, the DCEU movie sandwiched between the two, Shazam: Fury of the Gods, only managed $30.5 across the full weekend. Now, you can’t blame the lack of promotion, or the troubles of the lead star when it comes to either of those movies. In fact Dwayne Johnson usually can sell a movie on his own these days. Yet still, Black Adam was a flop.
For me, the problem is not an individual movie, but a series of weak ass movies in a row. The fans who do turn up to DCEU movies must be getting fed up of the usual poor quality. Make enough bad movies in a franchise and fans will just stop turning up. [Unless its called The Fast and Furious.] However, I guess positive word of mouth could help a DC movie recover in the second weekend, so is The Flash getting good word of mouth?
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I can’t say it really is, it’s mixed reviews and the movie is currently sitting at 66% on RT which is fresh, but hardly shaping up to be a classic. The audience score is a more respectable but still not wonderful 85%. As far as the fans online go, I’d say there is more positive than negative overall impressions. Most who see it, say they had fun. However, there are two pieces of negative feedback that seem to be present in all takes, even the positive ones. First, that the time travel rules in the movie simply don’t make sense and fall apart as soon as you explore how they work. Secondly, that the CGI in the movie overall, and especially certain scenes is poor and seems cheap and unfinished.
I do fancy catching The Flash, but it was never going to be opening weekend for me due to life. Maybe I will go see it with my son within the next couple weeks. I think it looks fun enough to take a theatre trip, which I’ve not done with a DC movie since The Suicide Squad. Before that it was BvS, which I was not a fan of.
I’m excited for the new DCU under Gunn and Safran. However, my worry is that all these bad movies will take time to erase. Casual fans may just not understand why there is a new Superman and pass it off as another one of those cheap DC movies. I guess it may take great reviews and positive word of mouth from fans to bring people in for Superman: Legacy, no pressure huh?
So the Opening weekend box office for The Flash is lower than Black Adam. What do you think of this news? Share any thoughts below and also say why you are, or are not seeing The Flash in theatres. .
