Something weird happened with The Flash. It got a rapturous reception from test screenings. It scored top marks at a cinema owners convention. Even Tom Cruise said it was a great movie. Then it landed in theaters and did nothing.
You could argue it was fighting an uphill battle to begin with. Everyone knew it was the death rattle of the already dismissed DCEU. It had been delayed several times. The star, Ezra Miller, had been in a lot of highly public trouble. Did these all add to its ultimate failure? $272 million on a $200 million budget put it firmly into the “bomb” category.
Director Andy Mucschietti thinks it was another reason. According to an interview on Argentinian radio station Radio TU (reported by Dark Horizons) he said the issue was much more fundamental than that, and it is simply to do with the character of The Flash:
“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. And I found out in private conversations that a lot of people just don’t care about The Flash as a character – particularly the two female quadrants. All that is going against the film I’ve learned.”
The online fan community has been quick to point out that The Flash ran for nine seasons on a female centric network like the CW and did huge business overseas.
Muschietti remains in pole position to direct Batman: The Brave and the Bold in the new DCU.