The Flash released in cinemas over the past weekend and it seems like most viewers weren’t exactly flocking to see the anticipated DC superhero movie. It had a slow start on opening day, earning around $24.5 million. Recently updated figures reveal that The Flash only managed to earn around $55 million at the domestic box office across its opening weekend – trailing behind Black Adam which earned $67 million in the same timeframe last year.
According to Collider, The Flash has underperformed at the domestic box office during release weekend and somehow brought in lower numbers than Black Adam but slightly better than Shazam: Fury of the Gods‘ $53 million domestic opening weekend.
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There are a number of reasons why this might be happening. Some suggest that superhero fatigue could be settling in for most cinema-goers but looking at the impressive figures for Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse‘s box office so far, that doesn’t seem to be the case. If the fatigue is specific to DC movies, that doesn’t explain away the massive box office success of Matt Reeves’ The Batman which raked in nearly $800 million worldwide last year.
The Flash‘s poor performance might have to do with the fact that the DCEU is being rebooted by James Gunn soon, so there’s little incentive to be invested in the current slate of DC movies releasing in cinemas. In addition to the messy nature of the current DCEU, most fans seem to be waiting for Gunn to pull the trigger on a rebooted universe instead, possibly starting with Superman Legacy.
This doesn’t bode well for upcoming DC movies like Blue Beetle and Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom, which are both scheduled to release later this year. Marvel Studios seem to be doing okay with new movies like Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 bringing in over $800 million globally, though the same can’t be said about DC’s performance lately.
Source: Collider
