The Flash's theatrical run is ending, and as it crawls to the finish line, it will finish with less money than another historic box office bomb for Warner Bros. and DC.
Warner Bros. had high expectations for The Flash, with some studio executives calling it the best comic book movie ever made before its release. However, The Flash became a box office flop for multiple reasons and received mixed reviews from critics and audiences. In its second weekend in theaters, the film saw the second-highest decline in attendance for a comic book movie, only barely being beaten by Sony's Morbius.
The Flash has been in theaters for a month and has earned over $106 million domestically. This is currently $10 million less than Green Lantern's domestic box office, and with fewer than 800 theaters showing The Flash, it is expected to fall short. Both films also had a budget of roughly $200 million and became big financial losers for Warner Bros. Green Lantern has been mocked by fans and even its star Ryan Reynolds in the Deadpool franchise.
The Flash isn’t the only DCEU movie that has disappointed at the box office recently. Shazam: Fury of the Gods finished far worse than The Flash, with only $57 million at the domestic box office. Dwayne Johnson's Black Adam, which has been highly ridiculed and still lost millions for the studio, surprisingly made more domestically than The Flash and Shazam: Fury of the Gods combined with $168 million domestically. This has even made some fans look back at Black Adam as a success comparatively than when it was initially released.
There are many reasons why The Flash has become such a disappointment at the box office. The main reason is the many controversies surrounding Ezra Miller, who plays the Flash. Additionally, the film set high expectations for audiences when executives like James Gunn called it the best comic book movie ever made. The film could not meet that expectation, especially with subpar visual effects.
The upcoming DC films may suffer a similar fate. The next DC film is Blue Beetle, which will release on August 18th, possibly amid the actors’ strike if it is not resolved soon. The actors involved in the film will not be allowed to promote it during the strike, which could significantly affect its box office performance. With The Flash rebooting the old DCEU into the DCU, some fans are asking why they should even see Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom when it will be unrelated to future DC movies.
The Flash is now available on digital platforms.
Source: Box Office Mojo