Andy Muschietti’s “The Flash” was plagued by years of delays, reshoots, and the off-screen chaos surrounding its star, Ezra Miller. By the time it limped into theaters, the lukewarm reviews had sealed its fate, with the film ultimately costing Warner Bros. around $200M in losses.
What’s fascinating is how quickly people seem to forget that, in the weeks and months before its release, “The Flash” was being touted as a potential superhero masterpiece. The word-of-mouth marketing machine was in full swing — the film had premiered early at CinemaCon to strong initial reactions, and Warner Bros. executives were treating it like a cultural event. CEO David Zaslav claimed to have watched it three times, calling it “the best superhero movie I’ve ever seen.” James Gunn declared it “probably one of the greatest superhero movies ever made.” Edgar Wright described it as a “total blast.” Oh, and Tom Cruise said it was “everything you want in a movie.”
So, what happened? Who was actually responsible for “The Flash” failure? Was it Muschietti’s direction, Miller’s off-screen scandals, or Zaslav’s overconfident hype campaign? There’s been no real accountability, and Muschietti himself hasn’t faced much blowback — he’s still somehow set to direct “The Brave and the Bold” for Gunn’s new DCU.
Now, speaking with The Playlist, Muschietti is reflecting on the whole debacle, suggesting that audiences had already made up their minds before the movie even came out.
A lot of people did not see it, but you know how things are these days — people don’t see things, but they like to talk s*** about it, and they like to jump on bandwagons. They don’t really know. People are angry for reasons that are unrelated to these things.
He added, “We just moved on and understood that sometimes there’s a headwind and a project that you dedicated a lot of work to. And we’re very proud of it. I think it’s a good movie.” Muschietti did, however, concede that Miller’s behavior created an “undeniable publicity crisis.”
Fair points. I’d argue there have been far worse superhero movies this decade that somehow scored better reviews — though, to be fair, that’s not exactly a high bar to clear.
In truth, “The Flash” never stood much of a chance. The film cycled through five directors and four different writing teams before cameras even rolled, and by the time it was released, the DCEU was already being dismantled in favor of James Gunn’s DCU. The writing was on the wall long before it hit the big screen.
So, is “The Flash” as bad as everyone claimed it to be? Not quite — but it’s far from the genre-defining event DC was hyping up. There are moments of genuine emotion and creativity in there, flashes of something better, but the uneven tone and relentless CGI overwhelm any sense of sincerity. “The Flash” isn’t a disaster; but it’s not a good film either.
So there's a script. That's something. It looks as though “The Movie Critic” really is dead and buried, and that this is a brand-new project, and title, but the premise is unknown.