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‘The Flash’ starring Ezra Miller heading for box-office failure

Mon 19 June 2023 9:32, UK

The new superhero film starring controversial actor Ezra Miller, The Flash, looks to be heading for commercial disappointment as the latest box office figures arrive. One saving grace, perhaps, is that the movie claimed victory in an early battle against Pixar’s similarly underwhelming feature, Elemental.

The two projects were expected to inject the summer’s cinema lineup with a surge in viewing figures. However, both fell short of the mark on their opening weekend: The Flash took an underwhelming $55million, while Elemental shrivelled with $29.5m.

These figures might have been a cause for excitement for smaller projects, but with both costing around $200m to make and a further $100m to market, they’re shaping up to make short-term losses in their theatrical runs.

Before its release, Warner Bros executives bigged up the Miller-starring movie, convincing DC Comics fans that it is “one of the greatest superhero movies ever made”.

Directed by Andy Muschietti, the movie follows Miller’s titular hero – named Barry Allen when unsuited – who travels back in time to prevent his mother’s murder and unintentionally enters the DC multiverse while doing so.

“This is a weak three-day opening for a superhero [film],” commented David A. Gross, the leader of Franchise Entertainment Research. “There have been similar openings that grew into big numbers,” he added in relation to 2015’s Ant-Man, which opened at $57million and ended with $519million worldwide, as well as 2018’s Aquaman, which debuted at $67.4million and finished at $1.15billion worldwide. But we do not see that here,” he said.

Reports also claim The Flash was a disappointment at the international box office, with $75m from 78 markets, meaning its global total was $139m. Unless the movie undergoes an unprecedented change in tide, it looks to become a commercial failure on the level of Black Adam. The Dwayne Johnson-starring movie opened last year to $67m at the box office and failed to reach a target of $400m globally on a budget of over $200m.

Watch the trailer for The Flash below.