Movies THE FLASH (Biggest Flop in Warner Bros.' History; Dragonlord's Review)

[KnightTemplar]

My general impression after the last few months is that Marvel has a deeper and more fleshed out roster of relatable characters while the DC stalwarts are more iconic and inspirational albeit overpowered. The kid is a pure Superman fanboy to start, that motherfucker all too easily wins the heart and mind of little 5 y/o boys. I must have at least three dozen Kal El drawings from him in my "art collection" now. He sometimes includes Batman and Flash, but it's usually Supes fighting Darkseid or Doomsday.

I've looked into some lesser known characters that might be of real interest to me personally and I found a couple in Swamp Thing and Hellblazer (Constantine), the runs by Alan Moore and Garth Ennis respectively in particular. And that's invariably in large part because it's dark horror shit aimed at mature readers. Batman is pretty close to being the epitome of mainstream, but his revamped characterization during the mid-1980s up to present day certainly fits that mold as well.

As far as film adaptations, I think there's a real opportunity for the taking with the MCU having pretty much shot it's cohesive and all-encompassing load over the last 15 years. The brand is definitely in a woeful place though, CBM fatigue seems to be a thing and it desperately needs Superman: Legacy to cross the billion dollar threshold to get off on the right foot. I think there's been a decent amount of cool shit and some inspiring moments in the DCEU 2013-2023 but the flicks as a whole just don't have it and some are just outright poor. Flash is probably my fave of the entire 10-year project.

He's a fan of the Big Blue Boy Scout now. Once he hits the teenage years, starts brooding and feeling aggressive, he'll become a Batman fanboy...

The main problem with the DCEU is it lacks consistancy. The MCU went through the best part of a decade where the vast majority of it's movies were solid at least. Sure, they had their turkeys, like Iron Man 2, Thor 2 etc. But those were exceptions rather than the rule. And when they got it right, they gave us some of the best comic book movies ever made: Winter Soldier, Civil War, Infinity War.

With DC, it's either GOAT level - Dark Knight Returns, Joker - or dog shit like Dawn of Justice, Wonder Woman 2 etc.

 

[DrVanNostrand]

WHAT DID YOU DOOOOOOOOOO

 

[GearSolidMetal]

 

[DrVanNostrand]

Woops my identity has been revealed
Who the hell is the red superman. Don't tell me it's that multiverse crap.

 

[Dragonlordxxxxx]

Sasha looks really good as Supergirl in this photo.

 

[SSgt Dickweed]

Sasha looks really good as Supergirl in this photo.

I hope they keep her as Supergirl. But if you've got two superbeings that strong, what's the point of having the rest of the Justice League? lol

 

[Cool Hand Luke]

I saw the Blue Beetle trailer at the spiderverse movie and frankly, it looked like a Disney junior production.

 

[Dragonlordxxxxx]

Update: June 18, 2023

THE FLASH Disappoints with $55.1 Million in Its 3-Day Opening Weekend, Projected to Finish with $64 Million in Its First Four Days

Argh. Such was the refrain across Hollywood as opening weekend estimates circulated for DC’s highly anticipated The Flash and Pixar’s Elemental, which are debuting domestically over the long Juneteenth holiday weekend. (It’s also Father’s Day on Sunday.)

Starring Ezra Miller in the titular role, Warner Bros. and DC’s The Flash is anything but flashy in the opinion of moviegoers. The film earned an estimated $55.1 million for the three days and projected $64 million for the four days, notably behind expectations (some rivals have a four-day number closer to $62 million).

The Flash had hoped for a three-day start of at least $70 million so as to come in ahead of such disappointing DC titles as Black Adam, which collected $67 million in its first three days.

Overseas, the superhero tentpole also faced challenges. It opened to $72 million from 79 markets, including a dismal $13.8 million in China, for a global opening of $130 million through Sunday.

The studio’s leadership has been hyping The Flash for months, with Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav and DC Studios co-chief James Gunn proclaiming it is the greatest superhero movie they’ve ever seen. Many critics don’t agree with the assessment; the pic currently has a 67 percent Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes. A bigger problem: Audiences gave the movie a mediocre B CinemaScore (as a way of comparison, Elemental received an A).

While superhero fare often skews heavily male, The Flash is even more so than usual. On Friday, for example, 73 percent of ticket buyers were male.

Box office pundits are divided as to whether Ezra Miller’s off-screen woes are impacting the film’s performance. Miller was arrested multiple times in 2022 and was the subject of several controversies, culminating in the actor issuing a statement in August of last year apologizing for their behavior and saying they would receive help for “complex mental health issues.” Miller walked the red carpet at the movie’s premiere but has otherwise been absent from doing publicity for The Flash.

DC was counting heavily on The Flash to improve its standing after the tepid showing of Shazam! Fury of the Gods and Black Adam.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/the-flash-box-office-elemental-iced-1235518215/

 

[Dragonlordxxxxx]

Ouch. Fell behind its low expectations, it did not even reach $60 million for its 3-day weekend.

 

[7even]

Sasha looks really good as Supergirl in this photo.

She was good overall.

 

[heavyarms21]

Oooof

 

[7even]

Ouch. Fell behind its low expectations, it did not even reach $60 million for its 3-day weekend.

It’s a shame. It’s a good movie. It will be an underrated film if it fails. Cgi wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be. The speed force or whatever you call that space between time did look weird but I thought of it as an alternative reality, so it didn’t bother me.

 

[heavyarms21]

Ouch. Fell behind its low expectations, it did not even reach $60 million for its 3-day weekend.

Well hopefully WBs dumbass finally cans Miller since it's clear he wasn't worth the trouble

 

[Staph infection]

It's weird that you don't know what he did to get removed from being the flash. Like it's not just a "moral police" situation. You can't go around physically assaulting people (choking out a woman/throwing chairs out of anger and hitting people with them) and stealing things...felony burglary isn't a "moral police" thing. It's legit breaking the law. Those aren't even the worse thing on the list (grooming accusations).

I'm a huge advocate for mental health and I'm glad he's getting help (I don't play that "they" stuff). However, everyone is held accountable for what they do, even if they are mentally sick.

I don't think they ever said what happened to the missing woman and he child from his Vermont compound. Police started looking for them and then Ezra Miller said he was going to seek mental health treatment and it seems like they were just forgotten.

 

[LeonardoBjj]

He's a fan of the Big Blue Boy Scout now. Once he hits the teenage years, starts brooding and feeling aggressive, he'll become a Batman fanboy...

- It's been almost 100 years. Seen Spaws, Darkness and Co come and go.

 

[TrueBias]

It’s a shame. It’s a good movie. It will be an underrated film if it fails. Cgi wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be. The speed force or whatever you call that space between time did look weird but I thought of it as an alternative reality, so it didn’t bother me.

That coleseum of horrible cgi we kept repeatedly seeing was not a good touch.

 

[LeonardoBjj]

I saw the Blue Beetle trailer at the spiderverse movie and frankly, it looked like a Disney junior production.

- They need a Azrael movie. Huntress too.

 

[Sano]

DC just can't seem to catch a break.

 

[milliniar]

DC just can't seem to catch a break.

I would say this is backlash to Ezra and the need to release this probably didn't help. On top of that most of the other 7 "DCEU" movies since justice league weren't good. James Gunn's suicide squad and the first Shazam have been the best of them, with Aquaman being the 3rd best since not having seeing the flash yet.

 

[Sano]

I would say this is backlash to Ezra and the need to release this, and then of course the last few "DCEU" movies sucked.

Hard to say how tuned in the general audience is when it comes to Ezra. I somehow doubt it would have that much of an impact, but who knows. Still, Marvel has been putting out some very mediocre stuff for a while and still dwarf their numbers. Quantumania was a pretty terrible movie compared the Flash and it had a 100+ million opening weekend. I thought this might put DC back on track with the hype coming into it, but guess it didn't take.