The Flashwas touted as ‘one of the greatest superhero movies of all time.’ However, the film’s box office has dropped significantly after an already disappointing opening weekend.
The Flashhas been a troubled movie. The film was first announced in 2014 and has taken over nine years to release. The film, which James Gunn has said will reset the DCEU into the new DCU, has been getting pushed back for various reasons. The reasons include trouble with the DCEU having a cohesive slate of movies, COVID-19 pandemic-related delays, andcontroversy surrounding Ezra Miller, the movie’s star. The film was released on June 16th to a disappointing domestic box office weekend of $55 million.
Related:The Flash Ending Was One Of The First Things James Gunn Changed
With a slow start for the Scarlet Speedster, the studio hopedThe Flashwould have a little more stamina in its theatrical run.The Flashhad a box office of $15.3 million in its second weekend, a significant 73% drop from its opening weekend. The film has brought in a miserable $87.6 million domestically and $123.3 million overseas for $210.9 million globally. This is bad news for the studio, as the film had a $200 million production budget.
That 73% drop is below other recent DCEU films that flopped at the box office.Black Adamdropped 59% in its second weekend, whileShazam: Fury of the Godsdropped 69%; both films lost money for the studio. The only comic book movie with a worse drop in its second weekend at the box office isMorbius, which had a 73.8% drop. So why isThe Flashdoing so poorly?
There could be a few reasons whyThe Flashis flopping at the box office. The most obvious reason is that some people don’t want to see the movie due to Miller’s controversies. Additionally, the film has some steep competition in theaters with another multiversal superhero movie,Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. It was recently revealed thatSpider-Man: Across the Spider-Versehad two versionsin theaters, so people are going back to see it again.
If that wasn’t enough, audiences have complained about the bad CGI and distasteful cameos on Twitter. Finally, another likely reason why fans aren’t going to watch this movie is that it is supposed to reset the DCEU. The recent DCEU movies have been disappointing, and althoughThe Flashresetting may be good for future movies, it has divided the fan base and made many people uninterested in seeing the film. Whatever the reason, it does not bode well for futureupcoming DC projects likeBlue BeetleandAquaman 2.
