According to one box office analyst, The Flash could end up costing Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) a $150 million loss.
The math isn’t difficult. The Flash cost around $200 million to produce and another $100 million to promote. Theater owners keep around 50 percent of the box office. In China theaters, the godless Red Chinese keep 75 percent.
Thus far, The Flash has grossed a terrible $87.5 million domestically and an equally terrible $123 million overseas. That’s $210 million worldwide after ten days of release, and this sucker is sinking fast. Last weekend, it dropped over 70 percent. At this point, Mr. They/Them’s The Flash will be lucky to gross $390 million worldwide, which is where Dwayne Johnson’s flop Black Adam ended up.
Let’s say The Flash grosses $375 million worldwide. After the theaters and the godless Red Chinese take their cut, that leaves WBD with about $175 million. $300 million minus $175 million equals a loss of $125 million.
Ha ha, WBD.
Gee, maybe hiring a pretentious freak who demands you refer to him as they/them isn’t such a good idea?
Maybe hiring a serial criminal credibly accused of child grooming isn’t a good idea?
Maybe making another shitty comic book movie isn’t such a good idea?
The Flash will make up some of that loss with what’s known as “ancillaries” — home video sales and rentals, TV deals, etc. — but this is WBD’s fifth superhero flop in a row. Five flops in a row. Five!
- Shazam! Fury of the Gods (2023) – $134 million worldwide
- Black Adam (2022) – $393 million worldwide
- The Suicide Squad (2021) – $168 million worldwide
- Wonder Woman 1984 (2020) – $169 million worldwide
- Birds of Prey (2019) – $205 million worldwide
Even graded on a pandemic curve, The Suicide Squad and Wonder Woman 1984 fall way short. Christopher Nolan’s Tenet was released during the worst part of the pandemic and grossed $365 million worldwide, nearly $200 million more than both of those DC titles.
Out of the seven major studios/distributors, WBD is ranked sixth, having grossed just $252 million so far this year. For comparison, Disney and Universal are worth over $1 billion. Gross means very little. What matters are profits. Disney might be grossing big numbers, but the groomers are still losing a fortune. I can’t imagine the losses WBD is taking due to the failed DC Universe. And I doubt August’s woke Blue Beetle will be the DC hero WBD desperately needs. Will the endlessly-delayed Aquaman 2 save the day? Even if it does well, one out of seven is still a catastrophe.
When I look at that list of flops, I see Hollywood relentlessly attempting to rewrite the classic hero into something no normal person will buy. Normal people want heroes, not teenage neurotics, homosexuality, woketardery, feminism, identity politics, and affirmative action.