It’s hard to pinpoint exactly what went wrong with The Flash and when, such is the muddled legacy left behind by one of the biggest bombs in not just comic book history, but all of cinema.
Spending a decade in development hell and cycling through countless writers and directors in that time didn’t help, and neither did the highly-publicized misdeeds of star Ezra Miller. However, one of the most surprisingly fatal blows came when everyone was told in no uncertain terms that it was going to be awesome.
Warner Bros. pushed the hype campaign to the forefront far too early, and the sheer volume of early screenings and previews slowly chipped away at the hype, especially when it turned out that we’d all been lied to and it quite simply wasn’t anywhere close to being one of the greatest superhero blockbusters of all-time as we’d been repeatedly told.
In the end, The Flash cratered in theaters and could still lose up to $200 million by the time the dust settles, but at least it’s been announced when and where everyone can actively ignore it for a second time. Rather hilariously, it’s only one week from today on Aug. 25, so perhaps WB learned its lesson from drumming up the buzz ahead of schedule after watching it blow up in its face the last time around.
Sure, the Scarlet Speedster’s debut will inevitably spend a fair chunk of time as Max’s number one hit, but the damage was already done a long time ago.
Published: Aug 18, 2023 11:19 am