Highlights
- The Flash struggled at the box office and needed to make over $400 million worldwide just to break even on its $200 million production budget.
- Despite its disappointing theatrical run, The Flash is performing well on video-on-demand platforms and is currently number one across services like iTunes, Google Play, and Vudu.
- Warner Bros. is relying on other successful films like Barbie to recover from the underperformance of their recent DCEU movies, but The Flash's box office failure raises concerns for upcoming DCEU films like Blue Beetle and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom.
After stumbling at the box office, The Flash may have found its footing and could end up recouping some of the studio's losses from the project.
The Flash struggled at the box office. The film earned $55 million domestically and $139 million worldwide in its opening weekend. After a subpar start, the film continued to plummet, with a drop in second-weekend sales comparable to Morbius. Additionally, the film had a $200 million production budget and reportedly needed over $400 million worldwide to break even. After 5 weeks at the box office, The Flash will start leaving theaters with roughly $267 million worldwide.
Luckily for Warner Bros., The Flash is number one across video-on-demand services this week, including iTunes, Google Play, and Vudu. At $19.99 to buy the film digitally, The Flash might recoup some of its losses from a disappointing box office. Other top 5 films on the VOD charts include Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, and Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken.
Similarly, Black Adam reportedly lost millions for Warner Bros., with an underperforming box office run that still looks successful compared to The Flash. When Black Adam was released, it also topped the charts for VOD, helping to recoup some of their losses. There are no reports on how much money was made from VOD for either film. Warner Bros. is probably happy that The Flash is earning VOD revenue after the disappointing box office.
Luckily for Warner Bros., The Flash isn’t their only number-one movie right now. Barbie is currently number one at the box office and has made nearly $90 million more in its first weekend worldwide at the box office than The Flash did in its entire theatrical run. It's safe to say Warner Bros. will be able to recover from its recent slate of DCEU films underperforming.
Although Warner Bros. is doing fine with their non-DC movies, The Flash's box office failure does not bode well for their upcoming DCEU films. Blue Beetle releases in less than a month and will most likely release amid the actors' strike, which will not allow the actors to promote the film. Warner Bros. has even considered delaying Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom to 2024.
The Flash is available to buy digitally.
Source: IndieWire