Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. has no worries The Flash.
The studio knew they had the goods in a DC multiverse movie that brings together Ben Affleck and Michael Keaton’s Batmans, Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman, Michael Shannon’s General Zod and a new Supergirl in Sasha Calle, and boldly released the film here at CinemaCon Las Vegas to a packed house and overwhelming cheers.
RELATED: CinemaCon Photo Gallery With Zendaya, Timothée Chalamet, Ryan Gosling & More
With a box office year of +37% already in 2022 with $2.5 billion, post-screening exhibitors smelled the money after the screen faded to black. More tentpoles here to take 2023 to a $9 billion box office year stateside.
Boss Tim Richards of Vue Cinemas said about The Flash, “I really liked it. There is a heart, there is a soul. You care about the characters. It’s going to be big. It’s great to see the full Warner Bros slate with comedies, horror and DC. Everything our viewers are desperate for.”
“This is one of the best DC movies ever made,” said a studio dine-in chain exhibitor echoing the early sentiments of DC boss James Gunn who announced the Ezra Miller title directed by Andy Muschietti as “probably one of the greatest superhero movies ever made,” one that resets the DC universe.
Kentucky-based exhibitor Rick Roman exclaimed, “The audience loved it. I thought it was great – lots of humor. Emotional at the end with some people crying. I like how they brought in Batman to support the Flash. Smart move. The film will have legs because people will see it more than once.”
So far the biggest opening for a DC Warner Bros movie belongs to 2016’s batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice on a global basis with $422.5M as well as domestically with $166M. The highest grossing DC movie of all time belongs to James Wan Aquaman in 2018 at $1.1 billion followed by Todd Phillips’ R-rated Joker in 2019 with $1.07 billion.
Deadline spoke with AMC CEO Adam Aron before we all sat down The Flash tonight in Las Vegas. However, the circuit boss smelled a hit after Warner Bros.’ solid two hour performance today.
“I’m excited about the whole record,” he beamed, stoked that Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav aims for 20 theatrical releases a year.
Aron said, “That’s music to my ears.”
The Flash was delayed by the post-production logjam of the pandemic, but will finally see the light of day on June 16. Meanwhile, while Zaslav reigns over the studio at the newly merged Warner Bros. Discovery, the pic’s lead star Ezra Miller made headlines with several reported altercations, including stealing liquor from a neighbor’s house in Vermont. Miller apologized for their behavior, and met with newly crowned Warner Bros bosses Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy to negotiate with the studio as well. The option to send this $200M production to the studio’s streaming service Max isn’t in the cards; Zaslav is a firm believer in theater’s downstream profits. DC Bosses Gunn and Peter Safran updated the press that Miller was progressing well in January, and the door remains open for a TBD sequel, though one has yet to be announced.
Muschietti today during Warner’s CinemaCon presentation praised the tabloid-laden Miller, saying they are “One of the best actors I’ve ever worked with. Every tool in the toolkit… [Miller] is an incredible comedian, and [has] all the action needed for a big show like this.”
Despite Miller’s off-set riffraff, other filmmakers heralded the actor’s work ethic and talent.
At TIFF, Daliland Director Mary Harron told Deadline that Miller “arrived on set to my amazement in a completely worked-out performance.” The actor even insisted on doing their lines in French if necessary.
Harron told us at the time that Miller was “one of the greatest actors I’ve ever worked with” and hoped they would “get the help” the actor needed.
Deadline’s Chief Film Critic Pete Hammond had the following to say:
