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The ‘Flash’ Crash and a Bummer Summer

The $200 million-plus Ezra Miller movie came in well below expectations. Did ‘The Flash’ fail because of its many micro-problems, or the macro issues facing big-budget movies in general?

Months ago, Warner Discovery C.E.O. David Zaslav and DC co-head James Gunn now-infamously proclaimed ‘Flash‘ the greatest superhero movie they’d ever seen Photo: Rodin Eckenroth/FilmMagic
Matthew Belloni
June 19, 2023

When a new studio regime inherits an expensive and scandal-plagued movie, it’s probably best not to anoint it the second coming of Jesus Christ or The Dark Knight, right? Doesn’t matter if you personally loved it. Just keep the superlatives under control, in case the movie bombs and you need to blame the prior guys. (We tried our best, but we just couldn’t salvage this film, etcetera.) Easy.