According to reliable box office sources, Warner Bros./DC’s latest movie, The Flash, has earned around $9M from Thursday night previews which started at 3 PM. The film is being hailed as a deeper universe superhero movie, and its critical score on Rotten Tomatoes has fallen slightly from 71% to 67% fresh, but audiences are enjoying it more at 88%, which is a good sign.
The Flash is already making waves before its final Monday grosses. DC co-chief James Gunn and Peter Safran have christened Flash director Andy Muschietti as the official helmer of their future Batman reboot, The Brave and the Bold. Meanwhile, Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group and Television have signed a multi-year agreement with the Argentinian filmmaker and his sister producer Barbara Muschietti.
The Flash’s Thursday night preview numbers are comparably close to Sony/Marvel’s Venom ($10M), Marvel’s Doctor Strange ($9.4M), and DC’s Aquaman ($9M excluding paid sneaks). The film also performed better than Marvel’s Ant-Man ($6.4M). However, Wonder Woman still holds the record for the highest Thursday night previews with $11M. The Flash has a very different situation, as its star Ezra Miller made their big PR debut for the film just four days before opening. Miller has kept largely out of the film’s promotion machine due to their tabloid history over the last year-plus. The Flash’s cast hasn’t been able to make a splash on late-night TV because of the WGA Strike.
The weekend outlook for The Flash is between $70M-$75M. However, if it emulates the gross patterns of Doctor Strange and Venom, it could find its way into the $80M+ range. Both Wonder Woman and Aquaman are slightly different superpowered beings when it comes to their box office comparisons. While tracking had Wonder Woman between $65M-$75M, it lassoed big buzz immediately and overpowered to a $103.2M start. Aquaman, on the other hand, posted a $9M pure Thursday in previews, but the pic had an additional $4.7M added to its weekend from paid sneaks for a pure $67.8M 3-day, $72.5M running total before Christmas Eve Monday and Christmas Day Tuesday pushed it to a very good $105.4M 5-day+ previews start.
The Flash has a unique opportunity with the majority of schools and people off from work on Monday, Juneteenth (June 19). Since it’s a new holiday, we have yet to see some major moviegoing action. Last year’s top Juneteenth films saw single-digit takes between $6.5M-$8.6M, averaging a -55% dip from their Sunday gross.
Disney/Pixar’s Elemental started previews at 3 PM tonight, and box office sources peg the pic’s Thursday night at around $3.5M. While The Flash has Imax, Elemental has 2,400 3D locations, 275 PLF auditoriums, and 140 4D/D-Box screens embedded in its 4,000 theater booking. Low projections on the film, which audiences like more than critics on Rotten Tomatoes, 88% to 76%, are at $35M, though it wouldn’t be surprising if the Peter Sohn directed title gets into the $40M range.