If Warner Bros. could recapture the lightning in a bottle that The Flash had a couple of months ago, then things would be looking pretty rosy right about now. Instead, the hype train may have left the station far too early, with things going from bad to worse for the long-delayed blockbuster.
After being hyped as one of the greatest comic book adaptations of all-time – admittedly by people employed by Warner Bros. and DC – The Flash debuted to an underwhelming Rotten Tomatoes score and has been trending downwards ever since, with the film’s current approval rating at a decidedly mediocre 66 percent.
In addition, it’s also landed the worst CinemaScore in franchise history after being awarded a B grade by audiences, which ties it with Zack Snyder’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice at the very bottom of the pile. Just when you thought things couldn’t get any worse, though, Ezra Miller’s starring turn is off to a severely disappointing start at the box office.
Long gone are the days when The Flash was potentially tracking for a $100 million debut, but as recently as yesterday projections had it pegged to end up somewhere in the $70-75 million range. However, after a tepid opening day haul, the three-day estimates have now been drastically whittled down to around $60 million. Yep, that’s worse than Black Adam, which failed to crack $400 million globally and almost instantly saw Dwayne Johnson booted out of the DCU.
By this time on Monday, there’s a real danger that The Flash is already circling the drain in terms of turning a profit.