The Flash Box Office Thread

[Moncton]

I think there may be two things, Keaton returning as Batman has no significance for anyone under 30, and Batman with other heroes just doesn't appeal that much because it doesn't feel like his world.

 

[FunkMiller]

If this indeed flops, I think the biggest factor will simply be that audiences are DONE with the DCEU. That the well has been so poisoned that nobody wants to drink from it anymore. This won’t just be a flop, it will be the latest in a string of them. Any good will from Wonder Woman 1, and yes Aquaman, is long gone at this point.

The closest comparison would be to Dark Phoenix where audiences reached a breaking point where they made it clear they didn’t want any more of Simon Kinberg’s version of X-Men and the brand was about to be rebooted anyways. The film equivalent of a sports team playing out the string after they were mathematically eliminated from the playoffs a month ago.

Spot on. The audience has never warmed to the DCEU, other than with a couple of exceptions that played as solo projects for the most part.

The absolute biggest mistake WB made post Josstice League was not canning the entire thing there and then, due to sunk cost fallacy. They continued to prop up the corpse, even though the audience was sending very clear signals. The fact it's limped on until 2023 is one of the biggest examples of studio denial and stupidity I've ever seen.

And it's STILL not over. Aquaman 2 will also flop at the end of the year.

 

[Ultra Nolanite]

Hey James, don't let Muschietti direct the Brave and the Bold, you're making a big mistake, I'm telling you this now.

If you liked his Batman action scenes in The Flash then have him as a stunt coordinator or something.

 

[SomeOldGuy]

$9 million in previews, per deadline. They think it could do 70-75 for the weekend, which seems a bit optimistic to me but we’ll see.

Box Office: ‘The Flash’ Zipping To $9M Thursday Previews – Deadline

 

[samsnee]

This is exactly why the new DCU will flop. They can’t commit and just say it’s a full reboot. Peacemaker season 2 is still happening. Blue Beetle is the first DCU character but it comes out before Aquaman 2, which isn’t part of the DCU?

And I don’t care what excuses people are making. There is definitely comic book fatigue right now bc they are all pretty much the same. Right now the fad is multiverse to cash in on that nostalgia cameo. By the time Secret Wars comes out, RDJ and everyone else will have a 5 minute cameo at best, be paid $50 million for it, and it will be pointless.

Spot on. The audience has never warmed to the DCEU, other than with a couple of exceptions that played as solo projects for the most part.

The absolute biggest mistake WB made post Josstice League was not canning the entire thing there and then, due to sunk cost fallacy. They continued to prop up the corpse, even though the audience was sending very clear signals. The fact it's limped on until 2023 is one of the biggest examples of studio denial and stupidity I've ever seen.

And it's STILL not over. Aquaman 2 will also flop at the end of the year.

 

[DarkKnight88]

I think there may be two things, Keaton returning as Batman has no significance for anyone under 30, and Batman with other heroes just doesn't appeal that much because it doesn't feel like his world.

How do we know that this opening 60+ is entirely because of Keaton and Batman: Maybe without Keaton and Batman this would be closer to 40M.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

 

[DarthSkywalker]

$9 million in previews, per deadline. They think it could do 70-75 for the weekend, which seems a bit optimistic to me but we’ll see.

Box Office: ‘The Flash’ Zipping To $9M Thursday Previews – Deadline

I think the over/under is Black Adam's 67m. This is a holiday weekend with a day off on Monday, so it should beat it. But there is a real chance it doesn't.

 

[BoredGuy]

And I don’t care what excuses people are making. There is definitely comic book fatigue right now bc they are all pretty much the same. Right now the fad is multiverse to cash in on that nostalgia cameo. By the time Secret Wars comes out, RDJ and everyone else will have a 5 minute cameo at best, be paid $50 million for it, and it will be pointless.

More than fatigue, I definitely agree more and more that the multiverse was a horrible idea for movies, keep that s*** to the cartoons... we might geek about some of it, but for most of the GA its mind-numbing.

IMO, Loki-> No Way Home-> Multiverse of Madness should've been a mini-multiverse saga and that shoulda been the end of it. And DC should've just hard rebooted

 

[DarthSkywalker]

Death...

 

[DarthSkywalker]

This is exactly why the new DCU will flop. They can’t commit and just say it’s a full reboot. Peacemaker season 2 is still happening. Blue Beetle is the first DCU character but it comes out before Aquaman 2, which isn’t part of the DCU?

And I don’t care what excuses people are making. There is definitely comic book fatigue right now bc they are all pretty much the same. Right now the fad is multiverse to cash in on that nostalgia cameo. By the time Secret Wars comes out, RDJ and everyone else will have a 5 minute cameo at best, be paid $50 million for it, and it will be pointless.

I don't think there is fatigue. Good movies from good franchises are doing well. That's the cycle of film.

The biggest different in WW box office is what has happened with China and Korea.

 

[Kahran Ramsus]

What’s the “not a disaster” mark? $100 million domestic OW?

 

[Filmfreak]

I don't think there is fatigue. Good movies from good franchises are doing well. That's the cycle of film.

Good movies are doing well but not as good as they did before. Mediocre and bad movies are doing poorly, while a few years back the majority of them was doing pretty good numbers too. These are definitely the first steps to some sort of a fatigue. Maybe it's not just about superhero films, like many others have mentioned. Maybe it's with blockbuster movies in general, judging by this summer's numbers. But something is definitely there.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

Good movies are doing well but not as good as they did before. Mediocre and bad movies are doing poorly, while a few years back the majority of them was doing pretty good too. These are definitely the first steps to some sort of a fatigue. Maybe it's not just about superhero films, like many others have mentioned. Maybe it's with blockbuster movies in general, judging by this summer's numbers. But something is definitely there.

COVID happened. It changed movie going in general. Only real events get people out to the theater.

Outside of China and Korea, Russia, and Ukraine, these movies are doing the same or a bit better then before. Black Panther is the one that really fell off and that has reasons.

Peak Marvel was peak Marvel because that was what they were building to. Continued growth is unsustainable. No COVID, L&T, MOM, and Black Panther all hit a billion. But COVID happened. What they've done is great in the circumstance.

 

[The Caped Knight]

 

[Kahran Ramsus]

Good movies are doing well but not as good as they did before. Mediocre and bad movies are doing poorly, while a few years back the majority of them was doing pretty good numbers too. These are definitely the first steps to some sort of a fatigue. Maybe it's not just about superhero films, like many others have mentioned. Maybe it's with blockbuster movies in general, judging by this summer's numbers. But something is definitely there.

I think the pandemic changed a lot of viewing habits. Sure, there are a couple of films a year that really blow up like Mario or Avatar or Maverick or NWH. But aside from those a lot of people are content to wait until they can watch it at home.

 

[J.Drangal]

Good movies are doing well but not as good as they did before. Mediocre and bad movies are doing poorly, while a few years back the majority of them was doing pretty good numbers too. These are definitely the first steps to some sort of a fatigue. Maybe it's not just about superhero films, like many others have mentioned. Maybe it's with blockbuster movies in general, judging by this summer's numbers. But something is definitely there.

COVID happened. It changed movie going in general. Only real events get people out to the theater.

Outside of China and Korea, Russia, and Ukraine, these movies are doing the same or a bit better then before. Black Panther is the one that really fell off and that has reasons.

Peak Marvel was peak Marvel because that was what they were building to. Continued growth is unsustainable. No COVID, L&T, MOM, and Black Panther all hit a billion. But COVID happened. What they've done is great in the circumstance.

There's definitely a fatigue and while Covid may have changed some habits, reading various reviews here and there for recent big movies, you can see many observers and a good chunk of the public pointing to what's now called metamodernism as one of Hollywood's main problem right now.

This way of making films that constantly refer to elements outside the fiction we're watching, in order to play on nostalgia or comment on pop culture itself, has become a much-contested gimmick, especially when it's essentially played for gag and done to the detriment of storytelling. This is what you find in many blockbusters, particularly those dealing with multiverses and so on....
I haven't seen it, but from what I understand, the recent Top Gun freed itself from this, and many believe that this is also one of the reasons for its success : "We don't make movies like this anymore" as some said.

In any case, I know I've had enough of this approach, which is why, almost fifteen years into what's considered as the golden age of live-action comic book adaptations, I've essentially skipped half of them. And I notice around me that more and more people no longer systematically watch all the new releases in the genre either. Some fairly "geeky" and/or cinephile friends don't even follow the news around it anymore, which I still do with a kind of sad hope.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

There's definitely a fatigue and while Covid may have changed some habits, reading various reviews here and there for recent big movies, you can see many observers and a good chunk of the public pointing to what's now called metamodernism as one of Hollywood's main problem right now.

This way of making films that constantly refer to elements outside the fiction we're watching, in order to play on nostalgia or comment on pop culture itself, has become a much-contested gimmick, especially when it's essentially played for gag and done to the detriment of storytelling. This is what you find in many blockbusters, particularly those dealing with multiverses and so on....
I haven't seen it, but from what I understand, the recent Top Gun freed itself from this, and many believe that this is also one of the reasons for its success : "We don't make movies like this anymore" as some said.

In any case, I know I've had enough of this approach, which is why, almost fifteen years into what's considered as the golden age of live-action comic book adaptations, I've essentially skipped half of them. And I notice around me that more and more people no longer systematically watch all the new releases in the genre either. Some fairly "geeky" and/or cinephile friends don't even follow the news around it anymore, which I still do with a kind of sad hope.

Some habits? Have you seen the overall box office? More people are attached to streaming then ever.

Multiverses is killing it at the box office. EEAO had an epic run, MOM grew substantially on the first Strange, as has ATSV, and that one NWH movie did okay...

 

[DarthSkywalker]

What’s the “not a disaster” mark? $100 million domestic OW?

There is no longer a, "not a disaster" mark. 100m would've been in that range, but that sailed a long time ago...

 

[JannTosh]

Knew that Keaton Batman and Supergirl were not the draws people claimed. I can’t believe people compared Keaton to Tobey

 

[BoredGuy]

Knew that Keaton Batman and Supergirl were not the draws people claimed. I can’t believe people compared Keaton to Tobey

Keaton had the potential to cause similar excitement to Tobey for us older geeks
but note that Marvel didn't market the whole damn movie around Tobey
in fact, they didn't show him once

They made a good movie, and then put in some awesome cameos that were the icing on the cake
instead of making a big pile of s*** and selling everyone a tub of icing.

 

[Blade Hoarder]

Tobias was also a nostalgic item for millennials and some zoomers. People who make up the immediate movie going crowd. Keaton is nostalgia for gen x and boomers. These people seldom go to the movies and they aren’t gonna watch freaking Flash.

 

[BoredGuy]

Tobias was also a nostalgic item for millennials and some zoomers. People who make up the immediate movie going crowd. Keaton is nostalgia for gen x and boomers. These people seldom go to the movies and they aren’t gonna watch freaking Flash.

Hey,
I'm a millennial, and Keaton was my childhood Batman, along with Kevin Conroy

 

[Frodo]

Tobias was also a nostalgic item for millennials and some zoomers. People who make up the immediate movie going crowd. Keaton is nostalgia for gen x and boomers. These people seldom go to the movies and they aren’t gonna watch freaking Flash.

I agree, and this is coming from a Genxer whose first exposure to Batman was the 1989 film in 1989.

For alot of Zoomers and Millennials, Christian Bale's Batman is probably the Maguire equivalent .

 

[psylockolussus]

This is exactly why the new DCU will flop. They can’t commit and just say it’s a full reboot. Peacemaker season 2 is still happening. Blue Beetle is the first DCU character but it comes out before Aquaman 2, which isn’t part of the DCU?

And I don’t care what excuses people are making. There is definitely comic book fatigue right now bc they are all pretty much the same. Right now the fad is multiverse to cash in on that nostalgia cameo. By the time Secret Wars comes out, RDJ and everyone else will have a 5 minute cameo at best, be paid $50 million for it, and it will be pointless.

DC Films are a mess in general.

A. The lack of consistency and direction.
B. Solo films like The Flash should have been out like back in 2016 or 2017 but here we are in 2023 just seeing it for the first time. They made 2 Suicide Squad movies, Joker, Birds of Prey, 2 Shazam movies and Black Adam first. And of course a Batman reboot that has nothing to do with these Dceu films and possibly the new DCU.
C. They are rebooting while these films are still coming out. Like way to kill the buzz and eXcitement for Dc films coming out in 2023
D. Looking at their Phase 1, like who in the gp really wants to watch a Batman film with a title The Brave and the Bold and don't think its an odd title.... then there's the Authority...
E. Blue Beetle looks like the neXt flop

Like even under James Gunn' helm, the future isn't promising.