2023 has been constantly attempting to prove its box office obsession with comic book movies. The subsequent releases Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3, and The Flash stand as the edifice of that fact, and we are only 6 months into the current year.
But despite the hyped-up over-the-top line-up of CBM projects and the constant promises of good runs, the films have been struggling to cross over the finish line. The Flash, in that sense, becomes the latest live-action example of that metaphor.
The Flash Fails To Keep DC’s Hopes Alive Despite Potential
One of the last remnants of the DCEU and symbolic of the equally loved and hated era that has gone by, The Flash was supposed to be “the greatest superhero movie ever made,” according to the DC Studios Chief, James Gunn. However, not only did the movie fail to deliver on that epic promise but it completely lacked the distinctive factor that has made certain superhero movies stand out among the currently over-saturated genre. Despite exhibiting great promise and potential, The Flash failed to deliver, exactly like its predecessor.
In its opening weekend, the DCEU film earned a mere $55 million at the box office, making it one of the worst premiere debuts of the Snyderverse roster. On the other hand, Sony’s animated sequel, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is going strong, returning to the No. 1 spot in its fourth weekend. While The Flash has grossed an overall amount of $210 million globally in its second weekend (barely making up for its $200 million budget), Spider-Verse not only easily crossed over the $200 million threshold in 3 days but is currently soaring with a box office collection of $560 million and counting, of which $316 million is from its domestic collection itself.
It is understandable how the fan hate and rage at the floundering DCEU project is being aimed at the current spokesperson and face of DC, James Gunn, whose last-minute changes to the script’s ending and post-credit scene are being touted as the real reason behind the film’s failure.
How Bad Is The Fate of the CBM Industry Right Now?
The rush of films pouring into the theatres this year comes at the tail-end of the 2022 debacle that witnessed the dismantling of DC’s parent company and its rocky rebuilding, the attempted vying of power by Black Adam, and the Henry Cavill mess. Marvel, in the meanwhile, kept confidently delivering shoddily scripted projects at an overwhelming frequency, ranging from Doctor Strange 2 to Thor: Love and Thunder – all of which worked toward making the past year one massive black hole of negativity that we’d all like to pretend never existed.
Also read: “We blame James Gunn”: The Flash Gets Lower CinemaScore Rating Than Dwayne Johnson’s Black Adam
Now that the year completes the first half of its life cycle, a quick analysis of the audience’s priorities reveals the excruciating disappointment at the barrage of film and television projects of poor and ghastly quality that are being produced and fed to the fans by these high-end studios at an alarming rate. The audience, in turn, panders to every blockbuster opening and the required box office collection needed to break even as people get increasingly addicted to comic book movies and their prolonged interconnected continuity of the mainstream narrative.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 were exceptions. Ant-Man 3 and The Flash are the rules. Be it James Gunn’s changed ending, poor VFX work, or the shifting management, the deteriorating quality of projects is a blatant problem with CBM franchises. And this is what has been building as the biggest concern for the comic book to live-action industry right now.
The Flash is currently being screened at theatres worldwide.
Source: Twitter | Discussing Film
