By Filmmaker Andy Muschietti thinks he knows one reason regarding what went wrong with his “The Flash” film from 2023, and it’s not the obvious ones.
The film notoriously had assorted production issues from the get go with multiple writers and directors coming and going before Muschietti came onboard.
Added to that was the overall negative public perception towards the DCEU, awareness of the upcoming reboot launching with James Gunn’s DCU, and the issue of superhero fatigue in general by the time the film opened.
Then there were more basic issues with the movie itself with criticisms regarding the writing and visual effects, and the publicly reported on legal issues involving its star Ezra Miller.
The film opened in June 2023 to mixed reviews and grossed $271.4 million – not good for a film costing around $200 million. Muschietti participated in an interview with Argentinian radio station interview Radio TU recently and more of his discussion has been translated by FlashLegacyBR and GeekVibesNation:
During the talk he was asked why he thinks “The Flash” movie failed at the box office, and this translated answer is surprising – lack of appeal, especially to certain demographics:
“Among all the others 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 comments have, unsurprisingly, been quickly torn apart on social media platforms. Many have pointed out those aforementioned filmmaking flaws, but even more than that have countered the claims by pointing to the success of “The Flash” TV series.
That show ran for nine seasons on The CW network, and Netflix in quite a few international market, and was one of the network’s biggest success stories along with boasting a strong female viewership.
Others have also pointed to Marvel rival Quicksilver and Evan Peters’ scene-stealing work in the X-Men films to show how a speedster can work great on the big screen.
At the present time, DC Studios chief James Gunn has offered no indication of when or even if The Flash will be a part of the new DC Universe. Muschietti meanwhile is set to launch his anticipated “IT: Welcome to Derry” prequel series later this year and is linked to direct the next “Batman” film “The Brave and the Bold”.
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