Leading up to its release last week, The Flash was generating a lot of hype and positive buzz from industry insiders and most of the critics. Warner Bros. CEO David Zaslav and DC Studios co-chairman James Gunn even called it one of the best superhero movies of all time.
Considering that the last few DC films disappointed at the box office, there is a lot of hope that the Ezra Miller-led movie will turn things around and become a huge hit.
Now, we finally have the results of its opening weekend box office and it sounds like the folks at Warner Bros. should start to worry.
The Flash Had a Disappointing Opening Weekend at the Box Office
According to Variety, while it nabbed the number one spot in the chart, The Flash had a disappointing opening weekend box office as it only grossed $55 million for the three-day weekend. It fell below expectations as it was projected to earn around $70-75 million.
Not only that, but the film also stumbled at the international box office as it was only able to gross around $75 million from 78 markets bringing its worldwide tally to $139 million, which is also below projections.
Despite being hailed by Zaslav and Gunn as one of the best superhero movies of all time, the audience disagrees otherwise as it only had a CinemaScore of "B" while the Rotten Tomatoes critics' score is currently around 66%.
Considering that the film cost around $200 million plus an additional marketing spend of $100 million, it is certainly a disappointing outcome since it is a sign that it could become a flop at the end of its run and won't be able to recoup.
It also doesn't help that more tentpole films are set to release in the coming weeks which makes it more difficult for them to rebound and other films such as Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse and Transformers: Rise of the Beasts are continuing to earn more grosses.
It is hard to tell right now why the film underperformed at its box office whether it's Miller's controversies or their absence on the press tour, the lack of interest from the general audience, or the knowledge that the DC franchise will be rebooted soon.
Either way, it's not the type of news that the folks at Warner Bros. would like to hear considering that they have high hopes for its box office and they've been heavily marketing it.
At this point, it's no longer surprising if the planned sequel won't happen anymore and Gunn and Peter Safran will just reboot the character in its entirety when they introduce him again in the new DCU franchise.
Also Read: Who Appears in The Flash Movie? All Cameos Explained
The Flash is showing in theaters everywhere. You can check more details about it here.
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