Why Did ‘The Flash’ Flop? Its Director Has a Theory

The Flash director Andy Muschietti thinks the film failed because it didn’t “appeal to all four quadrants” of moviegoer demographics.

The 51-year-old filmmaker helmed the 2023 DC Comics blockbuster, which starred Ezra Miller as the titular hero, has theorized the superhero flick flopped because it couldn’t attract a wide enough audience.

During an appearance on Argentina’s Radio Tu, Muschietti said: “The Flash failed, among all the other reasons because it wasn’t a movie that appealed to all four quadrants.

“It failed at that.”

READ MORE: Actors Who Turned Down Major DC Roles

The It director added general audiences “just don’t care about The Flash as a character” as much as other DC heroes like Batman or Superman.

He continued: “When you spend $200 million making a movie, Warner [Bros.] wants to bring even your grandmother to the theaters.

“And I’ve found in private conversations that a lot of people just don’t care about The Flash as a character. Particularly the two female quadrants. All of that is just the wind going against the film I’ve learned.”

The Flash follows the titular hero (Miller) as he finds himself stuck in an alternate reality in which General Zod (Michael Shannon) arrives to destroy Earth, leaving the speedster to team up with Tim Burton’s Batman (Michael Keaton) and Supergirl (Sasha Calle) to stop him.

On a budget of approximately $200 million, ‘The Flash’ bombed at the box office, pulling in $271 million globally.

Before its financial disaster, The Flash was plagued by major production issues. The movie was initially slated to hit screens in 2018, with Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse writing duo Phil Lord and Chris Miller set to pen the story.

However, the pair were later dropped, leaving The LEGO Batman Movie writer Seth Grahame-Smith to pick up the pen instead before he too ultimately left the project in 2016.

After more directors and writers (like Rick Famuyiwa, Joby Harold, John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein) joined and exited the film, The Flash finally found its director in Muschietti and writer in Christina Hodson, with the pair’s involvement in the film being officially announced in November 2019.

After the picture was confirmed for a July 2022 release date, The Flash was pushed back to November that year due to the strain the Covid-19 pandemic put onto the visual effects industry, before it was delayed once again to June 2023.

While The Flash failed, Muschietti is set to return to the DC universe for his Batman film The Brave and the Bold.