Ezra Miller plays Barry Allen on Warner Bros. “flash.”
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Moviegoers spread the fortunes over Father’s Day weekend with a variety of new releases and lingering favorites.
Mixed results left disappointing debuts for “The Flash” and “Element,” while “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” continues to entice ticket buyers.
Warner Bros. ‘ The latest superhero flick grossed just $55 million in its opening three-day weekend, a far cry from the $75 million to $85 million expected by industry experts. It also fell short of the $67 million made by DC’s “Black Adam” when it premiered last October.
Shawn Robbins, principal analyst at BoxOffice.com, said: “The Flash is a casualty of a number of factors that have held back what was once a highly anticipated film.”
Robbins pointed to the ongoing controversy surrounding star Ezra Miller, the lack of consistency in DC’s film franchise, and a marketing campaign that was too narrowly aimed at hardcore fans as box office fell short of expectations.
“Audiences have shown in recent months and the years following ‘Endgame’ that they’re more picky about which comic book movies are going to make box office hits,” he said.
It wasn’t the only film that received a poor response from audiences over the weekend. Disney’s The animated stereotype continues with “Elements,” which is expected to have the second-lowest opening of any wide-release Pixar film in the studio’s history. The film debuted with an estimated $29.5 million, slightly ahead of “Toy Story,” Pixar’s first theatrical release in 1995, at $29.1 million.
“[Element’s]debut wasn’t a surprise,” Robbins said, noting that Pixar is reshaping its brand image after a string of streaming releases during the pandemic.
Pixar also faces stiff competition from rival animation studios. Universal’s lighting and DreamWorks Animation divisions 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.”
then there is sony’s “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” has continued to wow audiences since its June 2 premiere. The movie grossed an estimated $27.8 million over its three-day run, taking it to $489.3 million worldwide since its June 2 release.
Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore, said: “While the new releases haven’t shown much of an outlier, this weekend’s sheer number of movies and big audiences has captivated the audience. Lots of viewers.”
paramount “Transformers: Rise of the Beast” added $20 million domestically, Disney’s “The Little Mermaid” brought in another $11.6 million and Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” added $5 million box office receipts in dollars.
Domestic box office receipts are expected to be just under $175 million for the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of Father’s Day weekend. That’s 5% higher than the same period in 2022, and 28% higher than in 2019, according to Comscore.
“Father’s Day weekend, while not a record-breaking breakout, was a great weekend for movie theaters, which made a huge fortune for the entire weekend with appealing films,” Dergarabedian said.
Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal and CNBC.
