Here’s a short list of words and phrases not to appear in stories about the second week of your big, expensive superhero movie: “Catastrophic.” “More than 70 percent decline.” “Gloomy.” And of course, “Morbius-esque.”
And yet it is precisely that fate that awaits The Flash this weekend, as Friday night’s box office numbers have confirmed early predictions that speedster Barry Allen would throw himself straight off a cliff on his second weekend at the market – and that isn’t one of those forgiving events, Looney Tunes-style cliffs that give you a minute to soar before reality kicks in; No, this idiot is going under.
Specifically, Warner Bros.’ superhero film is expected to hit a somewhat shocking third place in sales this weekend, behind both Pixar’s Elemental – which is doing much better with viewers despite a poor opening weekend – and Across The Spider “ by Sony. Verse, now in its fourth weekend. In fact, Flash might have a hard time even getting third place considering that Jennifer Lawrence’s new comedy No Hard Feelings does better than expected – and again, Flash does a lot worse.
Specifically, Andy Muschietti’s superhero film is expected to gross about $15 million this weekend (according to THR), meaning it’s down at least 70 percent in a single week. This is so bad that it moved Hollywood journalist Matthew Belloni note that The Flash is now battling for the ignominious title of ‘worst box-office hit for a superhero movie this century’ with, you guessed it, Sony’s Morbius. (The price dropped from $39 million to $10 million in a week when many memes sold but few tickets last April.)
The only glimmer of hope for Warner Bros. – he’s in the miserable position of having to promote a film from a previous DC Films regime that arrived with enormous baggage from both a creative and PR perspective, and is now struggling hard when it comes to audience retention is that the film does a little better internationally. $99 million in its opening weekend, including $13 million from China, means the $200 million film might at least not lose money.