THE FLASH (2023): Terrific Performances Can’t Save DC Film From Becoming a Box-Office Disappointment

The Flash Disappoints Financially Despite Good Reviews

The Flash has become one of DC’s biggest box-office money losers although it was well-reviewed by many critics and an enjoyable picture overall.

Warner Bros. may have made the right decision to scrap Batgirl from its DC slate of films judging from the box-office performance of a new movie which many deemed pretty good, The Flash. Ezra Miller, Sasha Calle and Michael Keaton were all in fine form as superheroes in the recent picture. They played The Flash, Supergirl and Batman, respectively. Audiences weren’t buying, though. In fact, they still aren’t. However, the real reason may simply be tough competition as opposed to a bad product. The Flash is being bested by the great Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse and Disney’s fine Elemental.

DC has two more high-profile projects on its release slate and neither of them looks likely to be huge though surprises do happen. The first is Blue Beetle and the second is the long-troubled Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. As of today, The Flash has collected $93 million domestically. That’s not a bad number for a movie whose budget was much smaller. But The Flash cost a ton to make. Many people think Ezra Miller’s real-life difficulties could be to blame for the movie’s low financial numbers.

Why is The Flash being singled out as such a disappointment, though? That’s hard to decipher. It’s definitely not a bad picture at all. However, it needed to do well at the box-office being that it does, in fact, have three former Batman actors in it– Michael Keaton, Ben Affleck and (spoiler alert) George Clooney. Miller’s problems aside, the movie is solid but audiences had read so much on Miller before the movie came out, it may have killed the hype for those who would have otherwise gone to see The Flash.

Blue Beetle could surprise in mid-August when it is released with over $125 million at the domestic box-office after a few weeks of play but that prospect will take a minor miracle to become a reality. DC will need to up its game to continue turning out hits. Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom could do well because the first Aquaman movie did but Amber Heard’s off-screen difficulties with Johnny Depp will not help no matter how little screen time Heard will have in the picture.

Would The Flash have been better off going straight to (HBO) Max? Probably not for some people. People who absolutely needed to see The Flash on the big screen went and enjoyed it and this movie was a feast for hardcore Batman and DC fans who did, indeed, show up. More fans were desperately needed, though, to save the day for Warner Bros. financially speaking, however. It’s certainly a shame.

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