The Flash Director Explains Why the Film Hit a Wall at the Box Office

The director of the 2023 film ‘The Flash’, Andy Muschietti explained in an interview that the film bombed at the box office because “a lot of people just don’t care about the Flash as a character.”

Speaking to Radio Tu, in a piece that was translated by Variety, Muschietti said that the film failed to appeal to “the four quadrants”, which is a movie industry term meaning to appeal to everyone, to justfity its $200 million price tag and associated marketing costs.

“The Flash failed, among all the other reasons, because it wasn’t a movie that appealed to all four quadrants. It failed at that,” Muschietti said. “When you spend $200 million making a movie, [Warner Bros.] wants to bring even your grandmother to the theaters.

“I’ve found in private conversations that a lot of people just don’t care about the Flash as a character. Particularly the two female quadrants. All of that is just the wind going against the film I’ve learned.”

Hollywood defines the four quadrants as males under 25, males over 25, females under 25, and females over 25.

The “amoung all the other reasons” Muschietti refers to are likely a reference to its poor critical reception and poor CGI, its placement in the closing DC universe and leading actor Ezra Miller’s legal troubles. 

‘The Flash’ finished its worldwide box office run with $271,433,313. 

While this is more than its $200 million budget, general industry wisdom is that a film needs to earn 2.5x its budget to break even, due to all the profit participants involved.  

Muschietti will return to direct ‘The Brave and the Bold’, which is Batman’s first film in James Gunn’s and Peter Safran’s new DC Universe.