At the point, the word-of-mouth marketing push for Andres Muschetti’s “The Flash” has reached overdrive.
We already know it’ll be screening for the first time, weeks in advance, at CinemaCon in late April. Warner Bros boss David Zaslav has not shied away about his excitement for the film. James Gunn called it “probably one of the greatest superhero movies ever made.” Test-screenings conducted last year produced record scores for the DCEU. Oh, and now Tom Cruise is publicly raving about the film.
In late February, according to several sources, Cruise had a meeting with Warner Bros.Discovery CEO David Zaslav, during which the mogul mentioned how great the movie was. Cruise, curiosity piqued, then asked to see it. Zaslav acquiesced to the request, and a copy of the movie was sent over to Cruise.
But, as an insider says, this was no casual messengering. A Warners employee brought the movie to Cruise’s home in Beverly Hills and stayed until the actor finished watching “The Flash”. It is unclear on what format Cruise watched it, whether it was digital or film. When Cruise finished, the movie was given back to the messenger, who returned it to the studio.
THR is reporting that Cruise loved the movie so much that he cold-called Muschietti to rave about it, saying something to the effect that ‘Flash’ is “everything you want in a movie” and “this is the kind of movie we need now,” according to insiders.
Last August, I had posted a reaction I gathered from a test-screening: “Humorous, thrilling and emotional” is what one person told me about “The Flash.” Miller is said to be perfect in the role. The movie is also Michael Keaton’s big return as Batman, and he is said to play a very important role in the plot, appearing in more than half of the film’s 140 minutes.
Along the way there are cameos from Ben Affleck, Gal Gadot, and Jason Momoa. There is also a CGI-ed version of Christopher Reeve as Superman. How does Reeve show up exactly? A big chunk of the plot has to do with Flash’s desire to change his past and bring back his mom with a space-time continuum — this has the Flash starting to see DC heroes from the past like Reeves, Adam West, Helen Slater and Linda Carter.
Directed by Andrés Muschietti, “The Flash” is indeed rumoured to be one of the better-directed DCEU movies, and a recent 08.11.22 test screening of the film only enhanced Warner CEO David Zaslav’s confidence in the finished product. I was told “The Flash” earned the highest test-score ratings in DCEU history.
Our report was then emulated by Deadline who wrote about the incredible reception for “The Flash. That’s why there will be no more delays in regards to this movie. It’s very much a 2023 release, despite its budget having supposedly skyrocketed to nearly $300 million. In fact, it’s now been moved up a week to June 16, 2023.
Edward Berger seems to have settled on what comes next. His Lance Armstrong biopic, starring Austin Butler, is now holding casting calls, with production eyed for January.