The Flash Hits the Ground With $55 Million Box Office in US

Warner Bros.’ The Flash has finally come to theaters, after a gestation process that was much longer and more controversial than the studio likely intended. With pre-release social media buzz hyping it up and solid, sometimes glowing reviews, it seemed like the multiversal action movie could make a big splash in theaters. And the actual reality turns out to be…ehhhhhh?

At time of writing, Variety reports the superhero flick has the number one spot here in the US, albeit with a current $55.1 million gross. By the time the four-day weekend wraps, it’s expected hit on or around $64 million, which puts it below both the $75-85 million projections that were reported ahead of release, and the $67 million start of last year’s Black Adam. With an additional $75 million from international audiences, its current worldwide total is $139 million. And with so much of the film’s release weekend covered up in talks about its VFX and some of its cameos, the movie might not have much in the way of legs over the next several weeks.

Beyond The Flash, there were two other big movies that had widespread releases this weekend. In second place was Pixar’s Elemental at $29.5 million domestically and is projected for a global take of $45 million. Though the film has gotten good impressions from those who’ve seen it, it’s been hit with mixed reviews and also has to contend with Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse still in theaters and the Super Mario Bros. Movie coming to physical and streaming. As it stands, this is the lowest domestic box office for Pixar—which recently saw job cuts ahead of the movie’s release—since 2015’s The Good Dinosaur and 2020’s Onward both opened to $39 million.

Finally, Lionsgate’s The Blackening hit sixth place at $6 million in the US. Ahead of release, the comedy slasher movie got good reviews and worth of mouth, with most of the latter from black celebrities on social media. Coming out on Juneteenth weekend has also probably helped it out, but at time time of writing, it’s not clear if the movie will have an international release.

Next week is empty in terms of genre fare, but the weekend of June 30 features three big movies. With Indiana Jones & the Dial of Destiny, Disney is trying to court the nostalgia crowd (and the overlapping Harrison Ford fanbase) to bring the series to some kind of close, while Dreamworks’ Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken will try to bring kids the spectacle of seeing teenage kaiju punching giant mermaids in the face. On the streaming front, the once-canceled Nimona movie finally comes to Netflix, and from the sound of things, it’s pretty rad.

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