It’s beating a dead horse at this point to call The Flash a bomb; everybody knows the movie hyped by James Gunn as one of the greatest superhero blockbusters of all-time is an unmitigated financial catastrophe that stands to lose Warner Bros. hundreds of millions of dollars.
However, what continues to make it such a fascinating tale is the way in which it’s been bombing, with the Scarlet Speedster’s long-gestating solo debut continuing to check off unwanted records and unfortunate milestones with each passing week, and that hasn’t shown any signs of abating after its fourth weekend in theaters.
In fact, The Flash has now bombed so hard that it’s been outpaced on almost every front by another bomb that released on the exact same day and bombed even harder. Much like Ezra Miller’s solo vehicle, Pixar’s Elemental carried a $200 million price tag and the weight of a Hollywood powerhouse behind it, only to fall well short of expectations.
An opening weekend of $29 million was Pixar’s worst since the original Toy Story all the way back in 1995, but it’s managed to show incredible legs. Despite earning more than $25 million less than The Flash did through its first three days, Elemental has this weekend passed the DCU dud domestically, holding onto fourth place while the multiversal misfire has dropped out of the Top 10 altogether.
There’s only $10 million between them on the global front, too, meaning that Elemental is mere days away from surpassing The Flash both at home and abroad to rub further salt into the wound.
