The Flash: What Went Wrong?

The Flash costs 220 million dollars to  make and with prints and advertising on top of that really cost more than 300 million  dollars studios take about 60% on average of domestic box office takings about 20 to 40  percent internationally which means that the flash will have to make four to six hundred  million dollars for the studio to break even right now it's made about 210 million dollars so  what went wrong and don't just say it was [ __ ] there's lots of stuff that [ __ ] that makes loads

  of money Avatar 2 Monsanto Etc let's get stuck in one of us The Flash from Warner Brothers and DC  Studios was released on June the 16th about a month before release outlets such as  Box Office Pro (boopro) were predicting the flash would earn between 115 and 140 million dollars  domestically on opening weekend as the release date neared those projections were lowered to  60 to 80 million and what actually transpired was that the film made 55 million domestically  and 75 million internationall

y for its opening weekend for a total of 130 million a lot of money  for sure but not enough when your film costs the same amount of money to make as the entire  nation of Granada spends on imports annually the second weekend figures show a drop of about 73  percent box office returns compared to Spider-Man across the spider-verse which had a 23% drop at  its third weekend and which has subsequently returned to pole position amongst the moving  pictures what happened? a number of factors have be

en cited by media outlets and reviews  and I imagine it's some combination of all of them including one big one one of the first  criticisms of the film's release was the look of the visual effects which many reviewers felt  were of poor quality or possibly even unfinished in fact the day before the official U.S  release date Thursday night previews Gizmodo put out an article where director Andy  muschietti addressed this explaining "the idea of course is we are in the perspective of The Flash 

everything is distorted in terms of lights and textures we enter this water world which is  basically being in Barry's POV it was part of the design so if it looks a little weird to you  that was intended" I mean I guess he also means if it doesn't look weird to you that's great but if  it does look weird to you that was intended I'm guessing another prevailing criticism of the  film has been its CGI cameos especially in regard to deceased actors Adam West Christopher Reeve and  George Reeves so

me viewers took particular offense at the film being released on the 64th anniversary  of George Reeves's suicide particularly when his role as Superman and inability to escape it  later in his career may have played a part in his depression and eventual death I also think  the core idea of the movie where the flash goes back in time and creates different multiverse  timelines isn't exactly a fresh idea to get popcorn chompers in seats at least eight different  Marvel titles have used this conce

pt already Marvel's Endgame which came out in  2019 was the 22nd movie in the MCU when its characters traveled back in time  viewers were a visiting moments from movies that were pretty universally loved by fans from  the previous 11 years and Thanos as an adversary had been teased and built up from nearly the  beginning but the dceu wasn't universally loved by fans in quite the same way especially as  time went on the first MCU entry 2008's Iron Man grossed 585 million dollars and had a Rotten 

Tomatoes audience score of 91 percent the first entry in the dceu 2013's Man of Steel made 668  million and had an audience score of 75 percent Justice League came out in 2017 and made 658  million with an audience score of 67 percent the next year saw Avengers Infinity War nab  an audience score of 92 percent and make over 2 billion dollars 25 cents for everyone on the  planet my point is maybe the flash which is the 13th entry in the DC EU didn't quite earn its  time travel Multiverse story a

s its revisiting movies that weren't especially loved to begin  with at least compared to the Marvel offerings the most talked about characters in the movie  aren't even from the current iteration of the DC expanded universe Michael Keaton returns  as Batman from the 1989 Tim Burton movie George Clooney everyone's least favorite Batman  shows up at the end there's a CGI rendition of Nicholas Coppola as Superman a movie that was  never even made who is this for so maybe just maybe it wasn't reall

y a very exciting premise  another important thing to mention is that before this film even came out it was announced that  the entire DCEU the DC expanded universe is going to be rebooted in 2025 now that James Gunn  is at the helm of DC so don't bother caring about what happens in this film because it will  make zero difference in a very short time also the dceu films have been releasing on HBO  Max within 45 to 60 days of the theatrical release so you can just wait and see it there if you hav

e  HBO from the comfort of your very own inflatable chair yet another factor cited as a reason for  the film's failure is the lack of promotion prior to release the Writers Guild of America  has been on strike since May the 2nd which has shut down late night talk shows and prevented  the film stars from appearing for promotions sag aftra The Screen Actors Guild American  Federation of television and radio artists has also authorized a strike in the event that  wga negotiations go south which doe

sn't bode well in addition many of the film stars haven't  appeared for promotions elsewhere for various reasons Michael Keaton is currently in the UK  filming Beetlejuice 2 and I suppose otherwise better than this and Ben Affleck is mysteriously  absent and of course the star of the film is not available to do promotions as the studio is  presumably keeping a tight leash on the actor which leads us to the final and really  the main factor in the film's failure before it even came out there was

talk of fans  boycotting the film because of Ezra Miller "I would tell them uh to go and see the movie  even if you've never seen a Harry Potter movie before because I think you'll really enjoy it"  Ezra Miller began playing The Flash in the DC Cinematic Universe in 2016 in Batman vs Superman  and Suicide Squad then again in 2017's Justice League and plans were already underway back  then to make a Flash movie starring Miller but as early as 2017 reports emerged of Miller  exhibiting strange beh

avior at various events and film sets like being filmed kissing a  fan on the mouth at a San Diego Comic-Con event in 2017 or dressing up as Toadette  from Mario Kart and speaking gibberish at a Comic-Con event in 2018 and not funny Andy  Kaufman gibberish creepy weirdo gibberish on The Stand miniseries an extra named  Kevin Armstrong told Insider that Miller incessantly screeched spit and interrupted  the director by screaming during the film when Armstrong complained he was told that  Miller w

as method acting which obviously means it's totally fine in February of 2020 while  filming for Fantastic Beasts the secrets of Dumbledore were shut down for the pandemic if  you remember that Miller moved to an Airbnb in Iceland and reportedly hosted a sort of commune  of "artists expats and spiritual confidants" guests who visited the home told Insider that  everyone seemed hypnotized by Miller who would often give long speeches about spirituality  and claimed to have supernatural powers in Ap

ril of 2020 a video surfaced which appeared  to show Miller choking a woman outside of a bar in Iceland it went viral the woman who Miller  choked in the video later told variety that she had made a joke about being able to take Miller in  a fight and then the actor took the joke seriously and ended up on top of her choking her while  screaming in her face about if she wants to fight the woman reported the incident to the police but  unfortunately did not press charges in January of 2022 Miller

was in the news again after posting  an Instagram video where the actor encouraged members of a North Carolina chapter of the Ku  Klux Klan to kill themselves "or else we'll do it for you if that's what you want" the video  went viral before being deleted then in March of 2022 Miller was arrested in Hawaii and charged  with disorderly conduct and harassment after a physical altercation at a karaoke bar according  to a police statement Miller became agitated while patrons at the bar were singing

you know karaoke  and began yelling obscenities and grabbed the microphone from a woman singing and later lunged  at a man playing darts Miller was arrested and released on bail paid for by a couple who was  living with the actor in a hostel at the time days later that same couple filed a temporary  restraining order against Miller claiming that after returning from jail Miller threatened the  couple and stole the wife's passport and the husband's wallet containing his credit cards and  ID the r

estraining order was granted the next day the next month in April of 2022 Rolling Stone  reported that executives at DC and Warner Brothers had held an emergency meeting to discuss Ezra  Miller's future as the flash which had already been filmed in light of the actor's arrest and the  general consensus was to hit pause on any future projects involving Miller you don't say later  that same month in April Miller was arrested again in Hawaii for assault in the second degree  according to a police s

tatement there Miller was at a party at a private residence and became irate  after being asked to leave and threw a chair at a woman cutting her head Miller was released a  few hours later pending further investigation two months later in June of 2022 the parents of  an 18 year old activist named Tokata Gibson iron eyes filed for a protective order against Ezra  Miller on behalf of their child in the Standing Rock Sioux tribal court the parents Chase Iron  Eyes and Sarah Jumping Eagle accused M

iller of grooming Gibson who was 12 years old when they  met Miller while protesting the Dakota access pipeline in 2016. according to the parents  Miller allegedly flew Gibson to London in 2017 to visit the set of Fantastic Beasts when  the child was 14 years old and Miller was 25. they allege that Miller provided Gibson  with alcohol marijuana and LSD and tried to sleep in the same bed as the 14 year old the  parents further allege that Ezra uses violence intimidation threat of violence fear pa

ranoia  delusions and drugs to hold sway over their child the mother also alleged that Miller physically  assaulted her by slamming a car door on her arm the protective order was granted and a hearing  scheduled Gibson iron eyes now over the age of 18 issued a statement on Instagram denying the  allegations and claiming their parents were being transphobic after the protective order was  signed it was reported that the court could not locate or serve the order to Miller because their  whereabout

s were unknown the parents claimed that Miller was on the run with Gibson whom they  describe as being manipulated and brainwashed later that month Miller deleted their Instagram  after posting a series of memes that was seen as mocking the authority's inability to find the  actor including an image reading "you cannot touch me I am in another universe" still that same  month in June 2022 The Daily Beast published a report about another 12 year old child who was  allegedly targeted by Miller in

Massachusetts the child and their mother were granted  a temporary harassment prevention order against Miller claiming the actor harassed  them and acted inappropriately toward the child they claimed that in February of 2022 they were  at their neighbor's apartment who knew Miller the neighbor told The Daily Beast that things went  south when the mother called her friends her "tribe" and Miller who appeared to be under the influence  accused the mother of cultural appropriation you know you've a

ppropriated that from the tribes  then Miller claimed that the board game parcheesi had Rastafarian roots and the neighbor questioned  this which caused Miller to snap and open up their jacket to reveal a gun and say "talking like that  could get you into a really serious situation" after this altercation Miller allegedly harassed  this mother and child offering to be a mentor to the then 11 year old saying "I've talked  extensively with your child and they have a lot of power to them at one poi

nt you're going  to realize that you don't have any control over them anymore they're an elevated being and they  would be lucky to have someone like me guide them" the child accused Miller of uncomfortably  hugging them and touching their hips and also alleged that Miller offered to buy the child  horses to raise on Miller's Farm in Vermont still in June 2022 a rolling stone investigation  reported that a 25 year old woman and her three small children were living at Ezra Miller's  Farm in Vermo

nt and the children's father was concerned about them because Miller's home  had unattended guns strewn across the living room and marijuana plants growing all over  the property then on August the 8th of 2022 the Vermont State Police confirmed that Ezra  Miller had been arrested for felony burglary Miller entered his neighbor's home in Stamford  Vermont around 5pm when the residents were not there and took several bottles of alcohol  which was confirmed by surveillance footage Miller would even

tually agree to plead guilty to  a lesser charge of trespassing and serve one year of probation in exchange for dropping the burglary  and larceny charges which could have resulted in a 25-year prison sentence and really probably should  have on August the 15th Miller issued a statement through a representative saying they are being  treated for complex health issues after going through a time of intense crisis and apologized  for alarming anyone with their past behavior a month later Vanity Fai

r published a report  about Miller claiming that the actor's legal problems have gone away because Miller has paid  off victims and issued non-disclosure agreements the report included comment from Miller's former  fiancee who claimed that Miller was emotionally abusive and controlling an allegation that has  occurred before with others who dated the actor and that brings us to January of 2023 when DC  Studios co-chair people and co-ceos James Gunn and Peter Safran announced that DC was fully  s

upportive of Ezra Miller of course they are "Ezra is completely committed to their recovery  and we are fully supportive of that journey that they're on right now" saffron said the trailer  for The Flash would premiere the following month during the Super Bowl in February of 2023  there are a lot of problems with the flash but the real problem is Miller I can't say for sure  that if the flash had been played by somebody less obviously deranged the film would have done  better but it surely could

n't have helped and DC maybe you could argue that their hands were bound  they certainly took a financial gamble with this by not recasting it or scrapping it and I guess  they were on the hook I get there they were on the hook financially and morally too not that they  care about that but the gamble did not pay off as for Miller well I suppose they could look  forward to a future of starring in quasi pseudo indie movies that are scraping the bottom  of the barrel and looking for anyone who'll b

e in it who's got a name probably keep doing  that until you know the inevitable conclusion that's it that's the video thank you very much  for watching it probably also doesn't help that the flash was available on Twitter on Sunday for  about eight hours in full and about two million people watched it including me by accident I was  just looking around even then I wouldn't bother