It’s no longer a surprise to anyone that The Flash has not met Warner Bros.’ expectations. You can chalk this up to a potential number of issues: Ezra Miller’s troubles; the fact that DC Studios is under new management; superhero fatigue, you name it. However, WB is taking whatever victory it can at this point, and that victory is that the movie finally slumped its way to $100 million in the domestic box office.
For comparison, the not-so-loved Suicide Squad grossed $64 million in one day. Per Collider, the Miller-led movie just squeaked by the triple-million mark with a $101 million domestic take. It’s doing a bit better internationally, pulling in around $146 million.
Here’s the caveat: the movie cost over $200 million to make, and that’s before marketing. Woof. Hard to shine a turd like that, but little victories I guess. There was some hope that this one was going to do well. It had some healthy buzz and appearances from two iterations of Batman (Batmen?).
Reviews didn’t match up to expectations and people just didn’t really seem interested. The truth is people are just in wait-and-see mode with the DCEU. Gunn recently announced who’s going to be playing Superman and Lois Lane, so there are good things coming in the future.
Miller has been relatively low-key lately, something the studio is probably happy about considering all the news they generated last year. Recently, a harassment order against the actor was dropped. They were accused of abusing a then 12-year-old child.
“I’m encouraged by today’s outcome and very grateful at this moment to everyone who has stood beside me and sought to ensure that this egregious misuse of the protective order system was halted,” Miller said. “I have been unjustly and directly targeted by an individual who the facts have shown has a history of such manipulative and destructive action.”
Miller’s lawyer Marissa Elkins said the allegations came while Miller was “struggling with significant mental health issues, and was unable to come to court to defend themself against the spurious claims made by this individual. Had Ezra been able to appear in court last year and share the truth about their very limited interactions with Ms. Guin, I am confident the original order would have never been issued.”
Regardless of what happened, that’s not the kind of thing you want hovering around what’s supposed to be your summer tentpole movie. Looks like everyone’s ready to move on to the next phase in the DCEU era.
