Box Office Thread

[Silver Nemesis]

It's now reached 100 reviews on RT. The overall score is 73% 'fresh' with an average rating of 6.5/10.

The Top Critic score is 48% 'rotten' with an average rating of 5.80/10, based on 21 reviews.

The RT critical consensus reads:

"While it plays too much like a sizzle reel of DC's greatest hits to fully stand on its own two feet, The Flash has enough heart and zip to maintain a confident stride."

The Metascore has gone up to 61, indicating 'generally favourable', with a total of 29 reviews.

The overall mood seems to be that it's ok. Not terrible, not great. But watchable. I've scanned some of the critic comments, and a few common points are:

•   The CG effects are bad.
•   Some are saying it's a funny movie that works well as a comedy.
•   Some say the final act is messy.
•   Many concur in saying that Keaton steals the show. Calle is also getting good notices.
•   Miller's getting a divisive response; some say he's annoying, others say he's really good.
•   Some are criticising it for coasting on nostalgia, fan service and cameos.
•   It's being described as breezy and fun.

Honestly, this is pretty much what I expected. It's not getting savaged by critics, but it's not getting high praise either. It sounds like an average lightweight CMB that probably won't mean much to most people, but should satisfy Keaton fans like us. It's certainly getting a more positive response than Indy's Direful Destiny.

Some critics are openly trashing the film because of Ezra (or as I like to call him, 'Professor Groom'), and I suspect the RT score would be slightly higher were it not for the controversy. As it stands, the critical response isn't too far removed from the reaction Batman Forever received back in 1995.

[The Dark Knight]

•   The CG effects are bad.

This seems to be a real complaint. Affleck's face placed on the stunt Batcycle rider looks jarring to my eyes, and that's a scene from the very beginning. A lot of the CG complaints seem to be from the finale. I suspect between filming, reshooting and promotion they possibly feel like enough money has been spent on this thing. They decided not to throw it in the bin and get whatever box office result they can.

•   Miller's getting a divisive response; some say he's annoying, others say he's really good.

Whether or not the criticism of his performance is fair, people not liking Miller as a person is a real thing and completely understandable. That's going to factor in to the scoring, and I'm sure it already has.

•   It's being described as breezy and fun.

I think it can be that. However, when a movie has been promoted so strongly as one of the best in the genre to whip up hype for a bigger box office take, getting a breezy and fun movie has the potential to underwhelm. I think there will be content in there for us to enjoy - especially if the tone is somewhat similar to 90s CBMs.

[eledoremassis02]

•   The CG effects are bad.

This seems to be a real complaint. Affleck's face placed on the stunt Batcycle rider looks jarring to my eyes, and that's a scene from the very beginning. A lot of the CG complaints seem to be from the finale. I suspect between filming, reshooting and promotion they possibly feel like enough money has been spent on this thing. They decided not to throw it in the bin and get whatever box office result they can.

•   Miller's getting a divisive response; some say he's annoying, others say he's really good.

Whether or not the criticism of his performance is fair, people not liking Miller as a person is a real thing and completely understandable. That's going to factor in to the scoring, and I'm sure it already has.

•   It's being described as breezy and fun.

I think it can be that. However, when a movie has been promoted so strongly as one of the best in the genre to whip up hype for a bigger box office take, getting a breezy and fun movie has the potential to underwhelm. I think there will be content in there for us to enjoy - especially if the tone is somewhat similar to 90s CBMs.

I'd also like to add (havent seen it) there is 2x the miller and from what I have seen, the Burton miller is quite annoying

[Silver Nemesis]

The RT critical consensus reads:

"While it plays too much like a sizzle reel of DC's greatest hits to fully stand on its own two feet, The Flash has enough heart and zip to maintain a confident stride."

The RT editors have taken down the previous critical consensus and replaced it with a more positive one. The new consensus reads:

"The Flash is funny, fittingly fast-paced, and overall ranks as one of the best DC movies in recent years."

I'm not sure why they've done this. Unless it's because RT is owned by Fandango, which is 25% owned by Warner Bros. At any rate, presales are still tracking modestly. The lukewarm reviews don't seem to have affected that. Word of mouth will be the determining factor in whether or not this breaks even.

I'd also like to add (havent seen it) there is 2x the miller and from what I have seen, the Burton miller is quite annoying

Agreed.

[eledoremassis02]

Bought my tickets for Friday and another for the week after in a more deluxe theatre

[The Joker]

Bought my tickets for Friday and another for the week after in a more deluxe theatre

Same with Fri. Plan on going with some friends. So far, the local theatre has Flash popcorn buckets, but (so far) nothing as far as cups. Wouldn't mind getting a cup with a Batkeats figure topper like I've seen advertised on Twitter, but each theatre chain has their own deal.

[The Dark Knight]

Bought my tickets for Friday and another for the week after in a more deluxe theatre

In two days I'm sitting down to watch the return of the King. I'll give some thoughts afterwards.

[Silver Nemesis]

The opening weekend box office estimates are in: $55 million domestic and $75 million overseas (https://variety.com/2023/film/news/the-flash-box-office-disappoint-pixar-elemental-flop-1235647927/).

At this point I'm confident in describing The Flash as a bomb. Even the lowest estimates for the break-even point place it at around $500 million. I think it's higher than that, but even if we accept $500 million as the break-even number it would still require a multiplier of over 3.8 to reach that amount. That's not going to happen. Some commentators are blaming the Ezra controversy for the box office failure. Whatever the cause, WB is definitely losing money on this film.

In other bad news, audiences have given The Flash a Cinemascore of B.

That's tied with BvS as the lowest Cinemascore of any DCEU movie.

[The Joker]

The opening weekend box office estimates are in: $55 million domestic and $75 million overseas (https://variety.com/2023/film/news/the-flash-box-office-disappoint-pixar-elemental-flop-1235647927/).

At this point I'm confident in describing The Flash as a bomb.

I'm hearing "The Flash" is on track to gross less during it's opening weekend than what "Black Adam" did.

If that's the case, the fact that Keaton's return to the cowl couldn't pull more people in than "Black Adam"'s opening weekend, well..... there's really no other way around it is there? It's just sadly unfortunate.

[eledoremassis02]

I was telling someone that Keaton has a draw but not the drawn Tobey and Andrew has as spiderman. A) the marvel movies had a bigger following and B) there have been so many Batman that people, especially younger people, are more interested in the newer Batman. At least that's how I feel. So many people I heard about who never saw 89 baffled me