The Flash earns praise from Stephen King, the famous author who has written several successful novels, with some making their way to the big screen. This includes the movie adaptations of IT Chapters 1 and 2, which the director of The Flash, Andy Muschietti, also directed.
Because King and Muschietti already have a working relationship, it is no surprise that the author saw The Flash early, courtesy of Warner Bros. Discovery. However, King isn’t the only one, as Tom Cruise saw The Flash and allegedly called Muschietti “out of the blue” to tell him it is “the kind of movie we need now.” There was also Jaden Smith, who on Twitter said The Flash “changed” his “life.” King is the latest celebrity to rave about The Flash in what appears to be one of the greatest comic book movies ever made but also one of the greatest movies of all time, at least if the early reactions are correct.
On Twitter, King expressed that he was invited to an advanced screening of The Flash. He prefaced by stating that he does not “care a lot for superhero movies” but that the film was “special,” “heartfelt,” “funny,” and “eye-popping,” and that he “loved” The Flash. The replies are a mixture of Twitter users accusing King of giving a paid review, Ezra Miller's recent controversies, and those asking King unrelated questions about his work. Seeing as how The Flash had a lot of bad publicity regarding Miller early on, Warner Bros. Discovery might have decided to double down on the marketing to get audiences to show up for the movie.
However, these ambitious marketing strategies by DC and Warner Bros. Discovery may come across in bad taste for those who didn’t want to see The Flash originally, and potentially even those who were previously excited for it. A marketing campaign that some people believe leans into propaganda has the possibility of alienating those on both sides of the fence. On the other hand, it may positively affect the outcome of moviegoers that didn’t know about The Flash previously and are now being introduced to the upcoming film because of celebrity endorsements.
Ben Affleck also had high praise for The Flash, and assuming all of it is genuine and not influenced by Warner Bros. Discovery in any way, it does beg the question of why other high-caliber films did not receive celebrity endorsements, especially since some of these celebrities, like King, don’t typically enjoy superhero movies in the first place. Both things can be true: The Flash is likely a quality superhero film, and the arguably hyperbolic marketing campaign might be a bit much. However, the question remains if Warner Bros. Discovery's strategy can hurt the movie industry if a financial incentive has the potential to affect word-of-mouth for certain films rather than others.
The Flash is scheduled to be released in theaters on June 16, 2023.
Source: Stephen King/Twitter