The Flash and Elemental Opening Weekend Was Rather Disappointing
The summer season has brought forth a slew of high-budget films, captivating movie enthusiasts as they closely follow the box office battle. The spotlight fell on two highly anticipated releases: DC’s The Flash and Pixar’s Elemental. While these films managed to dethrone the previous week’s champions, their box office earnings fell significantly short of expectations.
The Flash Looks Like a Financial Disappointment
The Flash raced into theaters but earned a mere $55.1 million during its first three days. In the meantime, Elemental trailed behind with $29.5 million. For a Pixar premiere, these figures are surprisingly low, and it’s worth examining some comparative statistics. However, the weekend was not entirely devoid of success, as Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City achieved a record-breaking opening in just six theaters.
Projections for The Flash had hinted at a potential nine-figure box office debut. Realistically, Warner Bros. had hoped for a $70 million opening, surpassing the performance of DC’s Black Adam in October 2022, which garnered $67 million. Unfortunately, The Flash fell well short of expectations, considering its budget of over $200 million. The film, featuring Ezra Miller in dual roles, grossed just $55.1 million domestically. This continues a challenging streak for DC Comics adaptations, with Shazam! Fury of the Gods opened to a disappointing $30.5 million in March.
Asteroid City Set Records
With two upcoming DC movies scheduled for release later this year, namely Blue Beetle in August and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom in December, it will be intriguing to see if they can achieve greater success at the box office. Similarly, Elemental had been projected to gross around $40 million domestically, but it ended up with a disappointing $29.5 million. This marks the worst opening weekend performance for a wide-release Pixar film since Toy Story in 1995.
In a remarkable feat, Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City debuted in just six theaters in New York and Los Angeles but managed to secure a place on the overall Top 10 list. The film generated $790,000 over the weekend, averaging an impressive $131,667 per theater. This performance stands as the best per-theater result since December 2016, when La La Land achieved $176,220 per theater.