Andy Muschietti blames everything – and the kitchen sink – for the failure of The Flash movie including the popularity of the character, Ezra Miller, superhero fatigue, and even women for not showing up.
The Flash only brought in $271 million when it was released the Summer of 2023.
The real ending of The Flash was a lot different
Before we dive into what Muschietti says, it’s my guess Muschietti is under a huge NDA as part of being given Brave and the Bold — and that’s also the reason he has been given Brave and the Bold, because of what happened with The Flash movie.
It’s my guess Muschietti has been given Brave and the Bold to keep him quiet and also because his movie got butchered. Well, now that’s up in the air with it said Gunn wants Matt Reeves and Robert Pattinson’s Batman in the DCU.
As I went over following the release of The Flash movie, the real ending involved continuing the Zack Snyder DCEU. However, from what I’m told, David Zaslav demanded to James Gunn that he recast DC with cheaper talent (Zaslav has plans to sell WBD and has had plans to sell for years). So out went the real ending of The Flash. Muschietti wasn’t allowed to finish. Out went Henry Cavill. Out went Michael Keaton. Out went Ben Affleck (recall Affleck’s answer to the questioning if he would work with Gunn, which says it all).
Further proof I think Muschietti is under a gag order is that, just as my insiders said, it’s known the VFX on The Flash went unfished which is why it looked so bad, yet Muschietti has given run around answers about the VFX. Also just as my insiders said, the villain of The Flash was supposed to be Professor Zoom, which was confirmed by Snyder’s DCEU storyboard artist. Now who was the villain of The Flash movie? It didn’t have one!!!
Note: These are the same insiders who told me Daredevil was getting retooled which was EXACTLY reported months later by the trades. Among other things, they told me in the final season of Superman & Lois, Superman would lose his powers, which is EXACTLY what happened.
What did Andy Muschietti say?
Regarding what Andy Muschietti has to say about his The Flash movie (via X), he blames the drama that surrounded Ezra Miller at the time:
It’s the result of a mental health situation, you know. It turned out the way it turned out, let’s say. I mean, he was dealing with a mental health situation, and well, when you make a movie, there are things you just can’t control. One of them is when actors have a public relations crisis. You know, he got into trouble, was arrested in Hawaii, etc., etc. I had, in general, a very good experience with him. He’s a great actor, a great comedian. I was very surprised by him. But then, towards the end, I came across all of this. I’d say this happened months before the release, just before the premiere, and well, it was a setback.
Blames superhero fatigue (which isn’t a thing):
Later, other factors piled up, like, you know, the fatigue with the superhero genre.
Blames the female audience and The Flash character for not being popular (yet other unknown comic characters have had success):
Years later, I started learning about other things, like how when a movie like this is made, there’s an expectation to appeal to all four quadrants of the audience. And this is a movie that, apart from everything else I mentioned, I think failed in the sense that it didn’t appeal to all four quadrants of the audience. When a $200 million movie is made, the studio expects to bring everyone, even your grandmother, to the theater. And in private conversations later on, I learned things like how a lot of people weren’t interested in Flash as a character. Half of those four quadrants — the two female quadrants — many women didn’t care about Flash as a character. These are things that worked against the movie, and I gradually found out about them. But I’m very happy with the movie, and I highly recommend it.
I think what it really comes down to is that The Flash just isn’t a good movie in its current form. However, it’s not for the reason Muschietti blames above.
Muschietti has Welcome to Derry, the IT prequel series, at WB which is supposed to get released sometime this year. For what it’s worth, a VFX artist working on the series has told me it’s really good.
