Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Elemental, and The Flash.
Sony Pictures Releasing/Marvel Entertainment/courtesy Everett Collection; Disney/Pixar; Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures/DC Comics
In a midweek surprise, Sony’s holdover Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse and Pixar’s new animated film Elemental edged out Warner Bros. DC superhero tentpole The Flash at the Wednesday box office.
Both The Flash and Elemental kicked off the weekend of June 16-18 with decidedly dismal results. The former started with $55 million for three days, far short of expectations and well below the $67 million made by fellow DC player Black Adam last year (Black Adam, starring Dwayne Johnson, was considered a huge disappointment ).
Despite star Ezra Miller’s personal troubles and multiple arrests in 2022, “The Flash” was one of the most hyped titles on the summer release calendar of 2023, if not the year, Discovery CEO David Zaslav took the stage at CinemaCon in late April and narrated triumphantly told cinema owners that it was the best superhero picture he had ever seen.
Still, the film was rejected by a wide audience during its opening weekend, despite finishing at No. 1 and receiving a mediocre B CinemaScore and equally tepid PostTrak exit ratings.
“Elemental” started at an even worse $29.6 million, the lowest three-day start in Pixar’s history when adjusting for inflation in 1995’s “Toy Story.” The Silver Lining: Elemental boasts an A CinemaScore and strong PostTrak deals, which explains why it beat The Flash on Wednesday for $3.5 million versus $3.1 million.
The animated sequel Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, now in its third week, earned a total of $3.8 million as of Wednesday, bringing in a heroic domestic tally of over $294 million.
The Flash ended Wednesday with six-day domestic sales of $69.5 million; and Elemental: $43.4 million.
All eyes will be on “The Flash” to see if it can reclaim its No. 1 position on Thursday en route to winning the June 23-25 box office race, or if the more positive word of mouth from “Elemental” ensures tight competition.
Sony will have double duty this weekend, between Spidey and Jennifer Lawrence’s new R-rated film No Hard Feelings, which is estimated to open at $10-12 million. The actress stars alongside Andrew Barth Feldman in the film, which is the first in a series of summer comedies aiming to revitalize the troubled genre at the box office (no mean feat).
The other new nationwide offering is Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City, which is expanding across the country after earning the best box office average per location since La La Land in 2016. Focus Features release is hoping for a debut in the $5 million range.