After years of excitement that the prospect of a solo Flash movie garnered among fans,The Flashwas a letdown at best. When Barry Allen was first given room to shine inJustice League, he seemed like a welcome foil to the doom-and-gloom that most of the other cast embodied. He brought a welcome levity to a film verging on melodrama and left fans ready for his solo outing. However, a slew of controversies following Ezra Miller after every other delay the film faced seemed to put its release in question. Surprisingly, especially after Warner Bros. Discovery pulled the plug on a completedBatgirl, the Ezra Miller-led Flash movie released on June 16th – and immediately tanked.
Early reviews forThe Flashpainted an unrealistic picture of what fans were really walking into come opening weekend. It seemed as though everyone in Hollywood was praising the film, withJames Gunn, creator of iconic films such asGuardians of the Galaxy, The Suicide Squad,Scooby-Doo(2002), andScooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, callingThe Flashthe best superhero film of all time. While that easily could be Gunn playing into his role as the new co-CEO of DC Studios, his high praise lent more credibility toThe Flashthan general audiences felt was warranted.
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The Flashis the latest box office failure for WBD
The Flashopened toabysmal box office earnings, raking in $55 million domestically over its 3-day release. With a budget of roughly $220 million, a domestic opening of this size ranks it second-to-last of all the DCEU films (for comparison,Black Adamhad a $67 million domestic opening weekend). With steadily declining ticket sales throughout its holiday weekend opening, there’s no telling just how much money TheFlashis estimated to lose WBD.
While DCEU movies seemed to lose steam with audiences following the releases ofWonder WomanandAquaman,The Flashis just the latest in a line of DCEU films failing to land with audiences. Directly followingShazam: Fury of the Gods, this movie is a crushing blow in what was supposed to pick the franchise back up ahead of Gunn’s new DCU. It’s tricky to pinpoint exactly whyThe Flashtanked this hard at the box office, but thediametrically opposing reviewsfrom audiences who saw the movie in its initial previews and those who went to see it after it came out can paint some kind of picture.
Despite the strange nature of celebrity endorsements forThe Flashafter its initial previews, the film’s mediocre critical response prior to its official release didn’t help Flash fans’ readiness to see the movie. It could have been the lack of a traditional press tour that the cast did to promote the film that hurt initial box office numbers. It could be chalked up to the years of setbacks and leadership changes that made audiences worried that the final product might not be worth the cost of seeing it in theaters. It could have been that the general public watched Ezra Miller commit horrific crimes for a few years,face no real consequences for their actions, and then didn’t want to support the Miller-led film made bythe same studio that stood by their side. Most likely, it’s a combination of all of those reasons or a litany of others.
WillBlue Beetlesurvive lowered enthusiasm?
The upcomingBlue Beetlemovie does have something going for it thatThe Flashseems to lack: it’s a true introduction to a character fans might actually get to see again. In a way,Blue Beetleacts as a soft launch to James Gunn’s take on a new DC universe with Jaime Reyes’ Blue Beetle being the first character fans see included in these plans. Though the initial trailer was well-received,Blue Beetleis going to be fighting an uphill battle.
This being said, it’s not as if WBC is busting out an unknown character to help close out the DCEU before Gunn really gets to work. Blue Beetle has his own established fanbase after years of popular comic runs and inclusions in DC animation. For a B-list legacy hero,Blue Beetle is established enoughthat any fan of the character would be excited to see what a live-action origin story would look like. Additionally,Blue Beetlewill be making history as the first comic book movie about a Latino superhero. WBC is so optimistic aboutBlue Beetlesucceeding that the studio has already green-lit a second and third installment to be included in Gunn’s DCU.
Blue Beetleis already showing a lot of promise acting as a somewhat stand-alone origin story that seemingly doesn’t bother with anything close to a multiverse story. Sadly,The Flash’s profound failures only proved that DC’s next movie has too much riding on its shoulders. As it stands now,Blue Beetlecan’t afford to just do alright– it needs to make up forThe Flash’s shortcomings.
CanAquaman 2break the cycle?
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdomwill officially be the film that brings the DCEU to a close. Following a well-received first installment that pulled great box office numbers, it’s easy to assume that the next film should follow in its predecessor’s footsteps. However,poor reactions to test screenings, the American public’s disdain for Mera actress Amber Heard, and the trend of DCEU sequels coming off as half-baked cash-grabs andperforming poorly as a result, make the thought of a good sequel to 2018’sAquamanunrealistic at best. And while this movie does have the opportunity to break the cycle of bad DC live-action movies, the real question is: does it need to?
BothBlue BeetleandAquaman and the Lost Kingdomwere in production long before James Gunnwas announced as co-CEO of DC Studios, and that he’d be rebooting the entire franchise. Gunn was quick to announce thatThe Flash’s events would be the soft reboot to introduce his new universe. Recently, he announced that Jaime Reyes’ Blue Beetle would be the first hero to exist in the new DCU. Though director James Wan said that he had to make changes to fit James Gunn’s new vision for the entire universe, Gunn recently confirmed that Jason Momoa’s Aquaman will not return in later movies. In theory, anything could happen in the new Aquaman movie because everything is just going to reboot anyway. If the events ofAquamanandAquaman and the Lost Kingdomultimately mean nothing because James Gunn leaves them in the past, what’s the point?
