'The Flash' opens to US$55 million, a step off the typical superhero pace
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DC and Warner Bros.' long-in-the-works superhero movie 'The Flash' opened to US$55 million in its first three days in North American theatres, according to studio estimates on Sunday.
DC and Warner Bros.' long-in-the-works superhero movie "The Flash" opened to US$55 million in its first three days in North American theatres, according to studio estimates on Sunday.
Though a fair amount of money by normal standards, a sizable jump from DC's last release, the "Shazam!" sequel, and enough for a first place start, it's also muted by superhero standards where $100 million debut weekends are almost commonplace.
It was a crowded weekend at the multiplex overall. In addition to "The Flash" there was the new Pixar family film "Elemental" and the horror-comedy "The Blackening." The only big win was Wes Anderson's starry "Asteroid City" which earned $720,000 from just six theatres and the distinction of having the highest per-theatre average ($132,211) since the start of the pandemic.
"The Flash" faced more complications than marketplace conditions. It has been in the headlines often over the past year, not because of the movie itself but because of its star Ezra Miller's off-screen troubles, including arrests, erratic behaviour and accusations of misconduct. Miller has apologized and said they are seeking mental health treatment. They also bowed out of participating in the normal publicity circuit, except for the premiere.
The studio's leadership remained bullish on releasing their $200 million movie, however, confident in its quality and importance to future DC Studios storylines. The movie introduces the multiverse, which allowed for the return of Michael Keaton's Batman in a movie that also had Ben Affleck's Batman.
Going into the weekend analysts expected "The Flash" to earn at least $70 million in its first three days, playing in 4,234 locations domestically. Now, it's projected to net out with $64 million in its first four, including Monday's Juneteenth holiday. Internationally, it made $75 million, giving it a $139 million global start.
"I think Warners did a fantastic job of dealing with the situation they had," said Paul Dergarabedian, the senior media analyst for Comscore. "It's a very interesting case study of what can happen when the title character of a huge movie has these very public controversies. But it's hard to reverse engineer it to know what effect it may have had."
