The Flash has a few roadblocks in the domestic box office marathon this Summer, possibly due to problems overlooked by Warner Bros. Discovery. According to early tracking, The Flash could be the latest in a long line of box office underperformers in 2023.

The Flash marketing strategy has focused on early screenings and celebrity endorsements from Stephen King, Tom Cruise, Jaden Smith, and more. However, Ezra Miller and Michael Keaton have not been seen promoting it so far. This comes amid James Gunn telling fans that they don’t need to see any previous DC film before watching The Flash, as long as they know Michael Keaton is Batman, despite the film resting almost entirely on the Snyderverse DCEU films. All in all, a marketing strategy that aims to please the general audience may be counterintuitive if it is too broad and does not hold up to the excitement it’s building.

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According to The Hollywood Reporter, The Flash aims to hit the $70 million range in its domestic opening. “Box office insiders say that’s a soft number for a movie that’s been heavily promoted by Warner Brothers Discovery as the best superhero film of all time," writes THR. "Others note that a movie’s hold once it opens is more important than the opening weekend gross.” The Flash reportedly cost $220 million, but there is speculation that the number is much higher thanks to delays, development costs going as far back as 2015, and The Flash movie marketing, which insiders claim puts it closer to around $300 million, if not higher.

The Flash may need to gross roughly $700 million to break even. Unfortunately for Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav, it might be too late to cancel The Flash like he did Batgirl for what reports suggest was a tax write-off, especially under the pretense that Batgirl was unreleasable after calling The Flash the best superhero movie. Perhaps if Warner Bros. Discovery's marketing strategy had put Ezra Miller in the spotlight and focused on the importance of mental health while tying it into what Barry Allen is going through in The Flash, it could have potentially turned the narrative around.

Warner Bros. Discovery is still showing various cuts of The Flash in early screenings. However, if it remained a celebration of what came before, rather than being used as a tool to see what works for James Gunn's DCU reboot, then it might have seen less division in the race to its release. It is a shame, as Andy and Barbara Muschietti set out to make a great superhero film that became muddled by inside agendas at the studio, like so many DC directors before them. Even so, The Flash may be able to turn it around after its opening weekend if word of mouth is as strong as its celebrity endorsements.

The Flash will premiere in theaters on June 16, 2023.

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Source: The Hollywood Reporter