The Flash Almost Covers Up Entire Shazam 2 Box Office Run in a Single Weekend
The Flash, a highly anticipated film by DC Studios starring the controversial actor Ezra Miller, recently came to theaters and received generally favorable reviews from both critics and viewers. However, according to Warner Bros. executives, the film’s box office performance did not start as they had anticipated.
The movie reportedly cost $200 million to make, and while it debuted to weak reviews, particularly in Europe and Korea, the executives were optimistic that the weekend would make up for the anticipated box office performance.
Warner Bros. marketed The Flash as ‘one of the greatest superhero movies ever made’
It is not wrong to say that the executives at Warner Bros. along with director Andy Muschietti, tried hard to convince the audience that their movie is one of the greatest superhero movies ever made. Even though the performance of actor Ezra Miller was highly appreciated by the critics, the movie failed to make a mark at the box office.
David A. Gross, who runs Franchise Entertainment Research, a movie-consulting firm shared, “This is a weak three-day opening for a superhero [film]. There have been similar openings that grew into big numbers. But we do not see that here.” The movie has also debuted at a low box office collection internationally with $75 million from 78 markets, bringing its global collection to about $139 million.
Read this: The Flash Confirms Ezra Miller Movie Has Wiped Out 3 Snyderverse Heroes from DCU
Some critics pointed out Shazam! Fury of the Gods starring Zachary Levi tanked badly at the box office compared to The Flash. The sequel to 2018’s successful movie; Shazam! Fury of the Gods only managed to collect about $133.4 million worldwide, which makes it the lowest-grossing film in the DCEU’s history, which started in 2013.
The Flash, on the other hand, made about $55 million in its first three days and about $62 million over the Juneteenth holiday weekend. The film debuted at $139 million worldwide after earning $75 million from 79 foreign markets. The studio is including the domestic estimates for the extra-long four-day weekend, which are currently estimated at $64 million. The film’s estimated $200 million production cost must be at least offset by approximately $600 million in global box office receipts.
According to reports, Warner Bros. was certainly not happy to see this result, but Shazam 2 was never set up for success and in many ways, the studio is treading water at the box office before James Gunn’s DC Universe begins.
Why did The Flash fail to attract the audience to the theatres?
On paper, the Batman reboot movie with Ben Affleck and Michael Keaton reprising their roles should be a hit, but it turns out that even this wasn’t enough to draw audiences to theaters. However, the failure to draw audiences to the theaters is something the studios were not prepared for.
The lack of publicity and advertising for the film has been mentioned as a possible factor, and some have also suggested that Miller’s controversial past may have contributed to The Flash‘s poor opening weekend numbers. Miller didn’t make themselves available for interviews with the media in the weeks before the film’s release, but they did show up at the red carpet premiere. The Flash currently has a 67% approval rating on the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes after only managing a disappointing B CinemaScore from opening day audiences.
The difficulties The Flash faces might not be entirely related to the movie. As Gunn and Peter Safran continue to revitalize the shared universe, the DC Universe is preparing for a significant reset. Since Gunn and Safran will be setting the story in a new location anyhow, this calls into question the DCU’s entire appeal.
Source: Twitter
