'The Flash' Director Blames Box Office Flop on Lack of Appeal Among Female Demographic
Warner Bros. Pictures
Movie

Andy Muschietti, director of the 2023 film 'The Flash,' offers his insights into why the much-anticipated DC film failed to win over audiences and became one of the biggest superhero movie flops ever.

AceShowbiz - In the summer of 2023, DC's "The Flash," directed by Andy Muschietti, hit theaters with high expectations. Boasting a star-studded cast, including Ezra Miller as the titular character, Michael Keaton and Ben Affleck as different iterations of Batman, and Sasha Calle as Supergirl, the movie should have been a success. However, despite the hype, it flopped at the box office, earning just $271 million worldwide against a colossal $200 million budget.

More than year after its release, Muschietti opened up about the film's lackluster reception on Radio Tu's "La Baulera del Coso" show, blaming its failure not on extraneous factors like Ezra Miller's controversies but on the movie's inability to attract a broad audience.

"The Flash failed, among all the other reasons, because it wasn't a movie that appealed to all four quadrants. It failed at that. When you spend $200 million making a movie, Warner wants to bring even your grandmother to the theaters," Muschietti argued.

From Comscore PostTrak exit polls, it's evident "The Flash" struggled to draw a balanced demographic. The first screenings saw 47% men over 25, 29% men under 25, but only 17% women over 25 and a paltry 7% women under 25.

Comparatively, DC films like "Wonder Woman" and "Aquaman," excelled in pulling female audiences, highlighting the disparity.

"I've found in private conversations that a lot of people just don't care about The Flash as a character. Particularly the two female quadrants. All of that is just the wind going against the film I've learned," Muschietti added.

The film's mediocre reception can also be attributed to a series of unfortunate events, such as Miller's legal troubles and the decline in interest towards the end of the DCEU's lifespan.

Its competition didn't help either. It opened at number one with $55 million but faced a sharp decline soon after, falling behind Sony's animated "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse" and even the R-rated comedy "No Hard Feelings."

The film's critical reception was lukewarm as well. It scored a mere 63% on Rotten Tomatoes and earned a B CinemaScore, tying with "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" as one of the worst-rated films in the DCEU.

Despite the setback, Andy Muschietti remains optimistic. He is set to direct "The Brave and the Bold," focusing on a new DCU Batman and Robin, hopefully bringing the lessons learned from "The Flash" to future projects. As the DCU plans its reboot, time will tell if these new directions can captivate audiences the way their predecessors struggled to do.

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