The Flash Projected for Disastrous Total Box Office Run

The Flash is now projected for a $300 million worldwide box office total, making it the most disastrous run yet for a major DC movie blockbuster release. The Flash is estimated to have cost Warner Bros. (Discovery) over $200 million to make and market, with an estimated finish line of $650 million to turn a profit for the studio. Well, as you can see, the current projections for the film are well below that, and it looks like The Flash will be a major loss to the studio and another major blow to the DC brand. 

This latest set of projections solidifies what was already looking to be a disastrous turn for The Flash. The second-week drop-off for the film was more like a nose-dive (70% decline) – after what was already a seriously disappointing opening weekend ($55M). The upcoming weeks will see Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny luring in the fans from The Flash’s demographics, with Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning on deck shortly to finish off any hope The Flash has in theaters. 

Reasons for why The Flash failed so badly have been the topic du jour in the Blogosphere. Fans and critics alike have no shortage of options for scapegoats: the changing leadership at Warner Bros. (Discovery); the controversy surrounding Flash star Ezra Miller and the effect on PR and marketing it had; the cul-de-sac nature of the current DCEU franchise before James Gunn’s DC Studios reboot; the lack of Zack Snyder, and of course the weirdly unfinished CGI visual effects. There’s also the fact that The Flash (and other films) were released in the most crowded blockbuster release window in years, and the post-COVID theatrical market simply isn’t the same. 

As the report in Forbes notes, The Flash may be indicative of the larger erosion of the DCEU brand. Wonder Woman (2017) is the only DCEU movie to earn more than $400 million at the domestic box office, with even the franchise’s biggest worldwide hits (Aquaman, Batman v Superman, Suicide Squad) coming up short in the US. The fact that The Flash could pull so many different eras of DC movies together (including Michael Keaton’s Batman and Snyder’s Man of Steel and Batman v Superman films) and overcome controversy to secure a high audience score (84%), but still couldn’t make a sizeable profit? 

Let’s just say Gunn and DC Studios have a proper challenge when it comes to selling a whole new vision of a DC movie universe.