Ezra Miller plays Barry Allen in Warner Bros.’ “The flash.”
Discovery by Warner Bros.
Moviegoers spread the wealth over Father’s Day weekend through a diverse slate of new releases and enduring favorites.
Mixed results saw disappointing debuts for “The Flash” and “Elemental,” while “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” continued to draw ticket buyers.
Warner Bros.’ The latest superhero movie grossed just $55 million during its three-day opening weekend, a far cry from the $75 million to $85 million industry insiders were expecting. It also fell short of the $67 million debut of the companion DC film “Black Adam” last October.
“‘The Flash’ is the victim of numerous factors that have dampened enthusiasm for the once highly anticipated film,” said Shawn Robbins, chief analyst at BoxOffice.com.
Robbins pointed to the ongoing controversy surrounding star Ezra Miller, a lack of consistency in the DC film franchise, and an overly focused marketing campaign that only targeted die-hard fans for a lower-than-expected box office opening.
“Audiences have shown in the last few months and in the years since ‘Endgame’ that they’re being more selective about which comic book movies are going to earn their box office dollars,” he said.
It wasn’t the only movie to see a poor response from audiences over the weekend. from Disney The animated grind continued with the release of “Elemental,” which is expected to have the second-lowest opening of any Pixar film released in studio history. Estimates peg the film’s debut at $29.5 million, barely more than the $29.1 million for “Toy Story,” Pixar’s first theatrical release, which opened in 1995.
“[‘Elemental’s’] Lackluster debut is less surprising,” Robbins said, noting that Pixar is in the midst of a rebrand after a slew of pandemic-era streaming releases.
Pixar also faces stiff competition from rival animation studios. The animation arms of Universal’s Illumination and DreamWorks have dominated the box office with hits like “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish” and “Minions: The Rise of Gru.”
and then there is from sony “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” which has continued to draw audiences since its June 2 debut. The film brought in an estimated $27.8 million over the three days and has grossed $489.3 million globally since opening on June 2.
“While there wasn’t a massive outperformance from big-release newcomers, this weekend was distinguished by the sheer number of movies and the wide variety of audience demographics drawn to multiplexes,” said Paul Dergarabedian, Comscore Senior Media Analyst.
Paramount “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts” added another $20 million domestically, Disney’s “The Little Mermaid” secured another $11.6 million in ticket sales and Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 3” received another $5 million.
Through the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of Father’s Day weekend, the domestic box office is expected to reach just under $175 million in revenue. That’s 5% more than the ride during the same period in 2022 and 28% more than in 2019, according to Comscore data.
“Father’s Day weekend, while not a record-breaking success, was great for theaters that saw their fortunes grow by virtue of an attractive array of movies that fueled an overall fantastic weekend,” Dergarabedian said.
Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal and CNBC.
