‘The Flash’ Loses Speed With $60M 3-Day Opening: Here’s Why

EXCLUSIVE: Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) insiders in Poland have reacted with alarm after a group of European regulators said they plan to meet to discuss what the insiders believe could lead to the closure of the U.S. media giant’s operation in the nation.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “The Twelve,” an award-winning Australian crime drama series, has been greenlighted for a second season. It is backed by the Foxtel group and its streaming brand Binge. The show follows a controversial murder trial seen through the lens of the jurors, twelve ordinary Australians who are facing their own realities and struggles. The first season received ten nominations, and won three AACTA Awards in 2022 including best miniseries. In recent days, it became the most nominated drama series at the 63rd TV Week Logie Awards. Season two of “The Twelve” will be eight 1-hour episodes written by Sarah Walker, Anchuli Felicia King, Anya Beyersdorf and Anna Barnes. Local authorities in Western Australia described it as the state’s “biggest-ever screen production,” but divulged no specifics on budget. Filming will take place in the Wheatbelt and Metropolitan regions and create over 100 local jobs, the state government said.

Angelique Jackson After Warner Bros. Discovery announced layoffs at Turner Classic Movies (TCM) on Tuesday, filmmakers Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese and Paul Thomas Anderson conferred with WBD chief David Zaslav about the future of the cinema network. Variety has learned that the Warner Bros. Discovery CEO convened a call with the trio of top filmmakers on Wednesday for guidance following the departure of top TCM execs, including general manager Pola Changnon, who stepped down after more than 25 years with the network and Turner. Spielberg, Scorsese and Anderson are key parties of the Film Foundation, the nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation and restoration of classic cinema. The Film Foundation was founded in 1990 by Scorsese, with Spielberg serving on its original board of directors and Anderson joining in 2006. In 2022, TCM expanded its partnership with the nonprofit, announcing a multi-year financial commitment to fund education and restoration of classic movies. The expansion was commemorated at this year’s TCM Classic Film Festival, where Spielberg made a special appearance to debut a 4K restoration of the Warner Bros.’ classic “Giant.” In April, Spielberg, Anderson and Zaslav also sat for a Q&A at the festival following a special screening of the 4K restoration of “Rio Bravo,” moderated by TCM host Ben Mankiewicz.

The Los Angeles Times that he keeps TCM on one of the screens in his editing suite while he’s working.“It gives me something to turn to, to bounce off of, to rest in, to reinvigorate my thinking — just glancing at some image or combination of images at a certain moment,” he told the outlet. “It’s more like a presence in the room, a reminder of film history as a living, ongoing entity.”“I fear for the future of TCM,” he added at the time. “So does everyone else I know who loves movies.”Zaslav himself touted the network when joined Spielberg and Anderson at the 14th TCM Classic Film Festival in April.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director SPOILER ALERT: This article contains major spoilers for Warner Bros. and DC Studios’ “The Flash,” now playing in theaters. “I finally got to see Nic Cage be Superman. It has been an absolute delight for me,” Kevin Smith recently told Rolling Stone about watching “The Flash.” The film and that Cage-as-Superman cameo near the end is a full circle moment for Smith, who was the screenwriter of the studio’s infamous “Superman Lives.” After launching the Batman movie franchise for Warner Bros. to great success, Tim Burton turned his attention towards Superman in 1998 with the development of “Superman Lives.” Smith penned the script, which focused on Superman’s fight against Doomsday. Despite spending over $30 million on the film’s casting and pre-production, Warner Bros. pulled the plug on “Superman Lives” due to creative differences.

Warner Bros DC’s The Flash, despite tumbling down with a $55M start, will remain atop the box office with a $16.5M-$24.7M second weekend take as the marketplace largely takes a breath sans tentpoles before Disney/Lucasfilm’s Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny arrives for the Independent Day stretch. That weekend 2 slide for The Flash reps a 55% to 70% decline.

Warner Bros’ CineEurope show here in Barcelona was a starry, jam-packed affair featuring Zendaya and Timothée Chalamet who talked up Dune: Part Two, as well as their respective upcoming titles Challengers and Wonka. The proceedings kicked off with a pre-taped intro video featuring President of International Theatrical Distribution Andrew Cripps zipping along the 405 in the Barbie car, and with Margot Robbie putting in an appearance. Helen Mirren, who narrates Barbie, also narrated the presentation in a voice over.

Warner Bros. Discovery is reportedly in talks to license HBO shows to Netflix.

You’d be hard-pressed to find a CEO in the film and TV industry to have such an immediate impact as David Zaslav over at Warner Bros. Discovery.

The Batman spinoff series The Penguin has been given an adult rating.The Max crime drama series, which is expected to premiere in 2024, stars Colin Farrell as the titular character (aka Oswald Cobblepot), Gotham City’s crime kingpin and one of Batman’s key enemies. The series will pick up after the events of The Batman.According to LADbible, the Motion Picture Association (MPA) has given the upcoming DC miniseries an R-rating.

Peter Caranicas Deputy Editor Studio operator Shawn Papazian is set to lead the development and operation of The Fields Studios, Chicago’s newly minted studio and soundstage complex. The announcement was made by real estate developer and The Fields Studios owner Knickpoint Ventures, which appointed Papazian as its newest partner to oversee all of its studio-related activities. The Fields Studios, launched last month, is set to start filming operations in the first quarter of 2024. Papazian has been involved with the design, development, operations and management of motion picture and television studio facilities for over 25 years.

Jordan Moreau In a turnaround for the streaming wars, Warner Bros. Discovery is in negotiations to license a package of library HBO titles to Netflix. If a deal were to go through, it would cement the sea-change in content distribution strategy afoot at Warner Bros. Discovery under the David Zaslav regime. HBO has licensed library content in the past — a deal with Netflix would not be groundbreaking per se, but it is notable in the era of pitched competition among the largest media companies to build direct-to-consumer streaming platforms. Netflix, the upstart outsider from Los Gatos, has been the pace car for television’s transition over the past decade.

Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment Writer SPOILER ALERT: This story mentions a few significant plot developments in “The Flash,” currently playing in theaters. In the climax of “The Flash,” Barry Allen (Ezra Miller) watches helplessly as his timeline-hopping escapades cause several other superhero universes to careen into each other and become obliterated in the process. Ironically, Warner Bros. is facing almost an identical dilemma — and the stakes could be nearly as existential. “The Flash” is the second of four mega-budgeted DC adaptations the studio is set to release this year, starting with “Shazam! Fury of the Gods” in March, and followed by “Blue Beetle” and “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom” in August and December. Yet these movies were conceived and greenlit by an executive team that all have departed the studio; in their place, new DC Studios chiefs James Gunn and Peter Safran have announced they will reboot the DC franchise in 2025, starting with Gunn’s “Superman: Legacy.”

Anna Tingley If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Variety may receive an affiliate commission. Once upon a time in New York City, the three shopping havens for those in the know were referred to, in the words of Blair Waldorf, “the three B’s”: Bendel’s, Barneys and Bloomingdale’s. Bendel’s shuttered after 123 years in 2018. Next came the Hollywood-adored Barney’s, who closed its doors in 2020. Now, the last old-school, luxury retailer standing is Bloomingdale’s — and one more bold-faced “B” to revel in its glory: Barbie. In honor of Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie,” which releases July 21, Bloomingdale’s decided to go all out in celebrating Mattel’s iconic plastic doll, who we can only assume would be a loyal Bloomies customer if she ever manages to escape Barbie World. On June 20, the retailer announced a series of Barbie-themed exclusive products, collaborations and pop-up shops ahead of the film’s anticipated release on July 21.

Naman Ramachandran Warner Bros.’ superhero film “The Flash” debuted atop the U.K. and Ireland box office with £4.2 million ($5.4 million), according to numbers released by Comscore. In second place, in its third weekend, Sony’s “Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse” swung to £2.6 million for a total of £20.3 million. In third position in its fourth weekend, Disney’s “The Little Mermaid” earned £1.3 million and now has a splashy £22 million total. Paramount’s “Transformers: Rise Of The Beasts” collected £1.1 million in fourth place in its second weekend for a total of £4.99 million. Elysian’s “Greatest Days” debuted in fifth position with £536,955.

**Spoilers for “The Flash” below. You’ve been warned…** After years of delays (including multiple filmmakers coming and going, as well as a global pandemic), Warner Bros.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent ANNECY — Bathed by gorgeous sun, the Annecy International Animation Film Festival and MIFA market came of age as a major industry and artistic event last week at the fairy-tale looking town nestling in the laps of the French Alps.  Takeaways from this year’s extraordinary edition, which ran June 11-17: Annecy Blasts Attendance Records The Annecy Festival and MIFA market smashed prior attendance figures to smithereens, recording 15,820 accreditations, 20% up on last year’s then all-time record of 13,200. That reflects “the extraordinary dynamism of the animation industry; more and more countries producing: our support of a lot of talents in emerging countries who want to come, of course; the [year-round outreach] in terms of meetings, and the official selection,” Mickaël Marin, CEO of the Festival and MIFA organizer CITIA, told Variety. “The festival was a great success, in its record numbers of attendance, exhibition booths and companies and dynamism and sensation of an extraordinary energy,” agrees Olivier Lelardoux, Blue Spirit Studio.  

DC and Warner Bros.’ long-in-the-works superhero movie “The Flash” opened to $55 million in its first three days in North American theatres, according to studio estimates on Sunday.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Warner Bros. Discovery has announced three new Thai HBO Asia Originals: action-fantasy blockbuster “Khun Pan 3”; fun-filled cooking series “MarkKim + Chef” and reality series “Deane’s Dynasty.” The shows will be available exclusively to HBO and HBO GO in Southeast Asia, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Thai TV content is currently growing in popularity among Asian TV audiences and has recently been seen pioneering soft homo-erotic series known as the ‘Boys Love’ genre, that has appeal to mature female audiences. BL is conspicuously absent from the new additions to the HBO Go slate.  “Khun Pan 3” is the final instalment of the “Khun Pan” franchise and represents a journey from 1950 after World War ll, as sorcerer cop Khun Pan is persuaded to take on another dangerous mission. This time he is hunting down two bandits and uncovering a conspiracy that challenges everything, he believes in. 

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Warner Bros.’s “The Flash” and Disney/Pixar’s “Elemental” made theatrical debuts in China that were in line with their soft starts in North America and other international territories. “The Flash” captured the top spot in China with a $13.4 million (RMB94.8 million) opening weekend ($13.8 million including previews), according to data from consultancy Artisan Gateway. It deposed “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts” which opened a week earlier and which slipped to second place in its sophomore frame. “Transformers” took a 69% fall and recorded $12.4 million between Friday and Sunday in China. That produces a $61.7 million cumulative after ten days in Chinese theaters.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter After struggling at the domestic box office, this weekend’s two major releases — the Warner Bros. superhero adaptation “The Flash” and Disney’s Pixar adventure “Elemental” — failed to catch fire with international audiences. “The Flash” pulled in $75 million in its international box office debut, which doesn’t sound all that bad… except when considering the movie is available in 78 overseas markets. That means it failed to hit $1 million in the vast majority of the territories in play. China led the way with a lackluster $13.8 million, followed by Mexico with $9.4 million, the United Kingdom with $5.3 million, Korea with $3.7 million and Brazil with $3.5 million.

Refresh for latest…: Warner Bros/DC’s The Flash sped into 78 overseas markets this weekend, grossing $75M, below the $85M-$95M we saw coming into the frame. With domestic’s slow-crawl three-day included, that makes for a $139M global opening. This is lower than projections, with general audiences not rushing out to see the deeper universe pic.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter “The Flash,” a superhero adventure starring Ezra Miller, emerged victorious over Pixar’s “Elemental” in a battle of the box office lightweights. This weekend’s two new releases were once expected to ignite the summer box office but instead entirely missed the mark, as “The Flash” stumbled with $55 million and “Elemental” collected just $29.5 million in their respective debuts. Both of those films fell short of already-low expectations. And worse, they were pricy endeavors, costing $200 million to make and roughly $100 million to market, so they are shaping up to be huge disappointments in their theatrical runs. In the lead-up to “The Flash,” executives at Warner Bros. worked hard to convince the public that the film is “one of the greatest superhero movies ever made.” Directed by Andy Muschietti, the story picks up as Miller’s Barry Allen a.k.a The Flash travels back in time to prevent his mother’s murder and inadvertently cracks open the DC multiverse. (Cameos abound!) But its tepid “B” CinemaScore from opening weekend crowds suggests that the moviegoing masses didn’t entirely agree with the lavish praise bestowed on the film by the people who made it. Without positive audience scores or strong word-of-mouth, “The Flash” will struggle to rebound in the coming weeks, especially as summer season heats up with the release of “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” on June 30, “Mission: Impossible 7” on July 12 and Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” on July 21.

Joe Goldberg himself (aka Penn Badgley) is giving us a glimpse of what’s to come in the upcoming fifth and final season of Netflix thriller series You, from Warner Bros. Television and studio-based Berlanti Prods.

“The Flash,” the long-in-the-works standalone superhero film that DC co-chief James Gunn called “one of the best superhero movies I’ve seen.” Starring Ezra Miller, the film brings together multiple DC worlds as The Flash races into the multiverse to change the past, crossing paths with Michael Keaton’s Batman from the Tim Burton films, a brand new Supergirl (played by Sasha Calle) and plenty more courtesy of some major cameos and surprises.Right now, “The Flash” is playing exclusively in theaters. But you may be wondering, when is “The Flash” movie streaming on Max? All your questions answered below.The film was released exclusively in theaters on June 16.Like all Warner Bros.

The Flash (★★★☆☆), look no further than IMDb, which has listed every single (uncredited) appearance on the movie’s full cast list. Some cameos are clever, while others are slightly creepy –- yet another example of CGI eerily resurrecting the dead.

J. Kim Murphy Nine years after it was first announced, “The Flash” has finally dashed into theaters, speeding toward a debut ahead of the box office competition. But the DC Studios film isn’t exactly matching the lightning pace of its superhero. The Warner Bros. release got started with $24.5 million on opening day, which includes $9.7 million in Thursday previews. That’s enough to set the Ezra Miller film on a surefire pathway to a No. 1 debut on domestic charts, but it’ll be tough for the film to match its projections heading into the weekend — some bullish ones predicting a four-day bow as high as $85 million through the Juneteenth holiday.

Miller’s well-documented antics in the months following filming — it was the first time the actor had been seen in public in almost a year.Sporting a white suit jacket with black detailing and long wavy hair with a topknot and braids, Miller told “Flash” director Andy Muschietti on the red carpet: “I love you, maestro. I think you are amazing, and I think your work is monumental.”It was the actor’s first public comments since a raft of stories last year about erratic behavior in Hawaii and Iceland as well as their home in Vermont.Miller, who uses them/they pronouns, has been holed up at their Vermont farm for the past year while undergoing outpatient mental health treatment, their publicist told The Post.“The Flash” has gotten good-to-mixed reviews, with The Post’s Johnny Oleksinski calling it “good fun” and raving that Miller “is DC’s much-needed answer to Tom Holland’s embraceable Spider-Man.”Meanwhile, Twitter was awash with criticism of the actor this week, calling Miller an “abuser” and a “groomer,” but their rep said Miller is getting real help and is recovering.“This is not a publicity thing,” the rep said.

Christopher Vourlias Amid turbulent times for global streaming services who continue to course correct after years of pursuing subscriber growth at all costs, TV writers and producers in Eastern Europe are pondering the next step for a region still searching for its first international breakout hit. “The biggest challenge is the great Netflix correction — the recalibration, the reassessment of dollars,” Ioanina Pavel, who served as creative producer on the HBO Max original series “Spy/Master,” said Friday at the Transilvania Film Festival. “It’s not a bad thing, but it is a challenge. There’s been a glut. The Golden Age of TV is now coming to a close. It’s not a bad thing; it just means a reallocation of money.”

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent ANNECY — London-based Hanna-Barbera Studios Europe is set to initiate production next week on “Beast Boy: Lone Wolf,” the first time than a DC title that will be made out of the U.K. The announcement was made at a studio focus for Warner Bros. Animation, Cartoon Network Studios and Hanna-Barbera Studios Europe, whose fan favourites had a student/exec audience hollering in approval.  Introduced by Sam Register, president of all three companies, the focus must rate at the fastest-paced of all big studio unveils at Annecy, packed by never-seen-before footage of multiple shows. Register didn’t talk strategy: The audience wanted to see shows, and studio execs were excited to show them. 

SPOILER ALERT: This article contains major spoilers for Warner Bros. and DC Studios’ “The Flash,” now playing in theaters. Ezra Miller’s speedy superhero tears apart the DC Universe in the multiverse-hopping movie, “The Flash.” After first appearing in cameos in “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” and “Suicide Squad,” the Flash finally gets his own standalone movie, full of surprise appearances and shocking cameos.

Tom Felton is getting back into character as Draco Malfoy.

The Flash” is here, and if you’ve seen it, you probably have a lot of questions about what it all, especially that cacophonous ending, means for the DC Universe.In the film, Barry Allen (Ezra Miller) travels back in time and to other dimensions in an effort to save his mom’s life (and that of his father, who was wrongly convicted of her murder). Along the way he interacts with at least two actors playing Batman — Ben Affleck from Zack Snyder’s films, and Michael Keaton, who last played the role in 1992’s “Batman Returns” — alongside a whole lot of other characters.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director SPOILER ALERT: This story contains minor spoilers from “The Flash,” now playing in theaters nationwide. Reviews for Warner Bros.’ long-in-the-works “The Flash” movie have been largely favorable to mixed, but most critics agree the film is the latest comic book tentpole to suffer from unappealing visual effects. Leaked scenes on social media have also led to fan bafflement over the film’s VFX, especially an opening sequence in which Ezra Miller’s superhero speeds to Gotham City to save a bunch of falling babies from a collapsing hospital. To say the VFX babies in “The Flash” opening scene are rendered in a hugely un-human way would be an understatement. The same goes for all of the human characters who appear during the movie’s many time travel sequences. Suffice to say, none of them look human at all.

Jordan Moreau “The Flash” is racing ahead at the box office, picking up $9.7 million in previews at the box office. The Warner Bros. film, starring Ezra Miller as the DC Comics speedster and helmed by “It” director Andy Muschietti, has endured a long and rocky road to theaters, but it’s finally opening this weekend. “The Flash” is projected to earn around $70 million in its first weekend, with some predictions as high as $85 million and others as low as $68 million. That expected opening is in line with previous DC Studios projects like last year’s “Black Adam” and 2018’s “Aquaman,” which both debuted to $67 million — but Warner Bros. is surely hoping that “The Flash” takes more after his “Justice League” companion than Dwayne Johnson’s antihero. “Black Adam” stalled out with $168 million domestically and less than $400 million globally, while Jason Momoa’s “Aquaman” surfed to $335 million in North America and $1.14 billion worldwide. Without question, “The Flash” will perform better than March’s “Shazam: Fury of the Gods,” which opened with $30 million and ended its domestic run with just $57 million. In terms of Thursday previews, “Black Adam” collected $7.6 million, “Aquaman” had $9 million and “Shazam: Fury of the Gods” made $3.4 million.

Earlier this month, “The Flash” and “IT” director Andy Muschietti emerged as the “top choice” of Warner Bros. to helm the new DCU‘s upcoming “Batman: The Brave And The Bold.” Now Variety confirms that Muschietti has indeed landed the project.