The Flash might be a visual spectacle with its multiversal adventures and memorable cameos, but it's also a movie that many filmgoers apparently preferred to watch at home.
Per IndieWire, The Flash has landed in the top spot of all three VOD charts (iTunes, Google Play, Vudu) for the week following its digital debut. The three lists are otherwise quite similar with the other titles that are performing well digitally, with the top of the lists including other popular films like The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. DreamWorks and Universal's animated feature Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken is also having a decent showing after its own shortcomings in theaters, popping up in all three digital charts and landing in the No. 3 spot on Vudu's Top 10 list.
With a lengthy production process, The Flash was a very expensive film to make, eventually seeing its budget balloon up to $220 million. Factoring in additional heavy costs for marketing, it's estimated that The Flash has lost around $200 million for Warner Bros. Discovery. Early reviews were strong and there had been an incredible amount of hype developed ahead of the film's release, but heading into the end of the DCEU timeline, filmgoers just weren't as excited to see The Flash on the big screen as the studio had been hoping for.
Did The Flash's Box Office Performances Kill Its Sequel Chances?
The filmmakers behind The Flash were open to continuing the story if given the opportunity. Reportedly, there's already a finished screenplay for the film, and while director Andy Muschietti has suggested he'd be up for making The Flash 2, he said at CinemaCon that everyone was "waiting to see how this movie does." While the VOD profits have been impressive so far, it might not be enough to convince Warner Bros. Discovery to roll the dice with another Flash movie, given just how much its development cost the company financially.
Muschietti helmed The Flash using a screenplay by Christina Hodson with a story by John Francis Daley, Jonathan Goldstein, and Joby Harold. Ezra Miller stars as two versions of Barry Allen alongside Michael Keaton as Batman and Sasha Calle as Supergirl. In the movie, Barry's attempt to save his mother by way of time travel goes horribly wrong, completely fracturing the multiverse.
The Flash is available on VOD.
Source: IndieWire