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.
As we noted coming into the frame, there was a question mark over how deeply the tabloid headlines surrounding star Ezra Miller have seeped into overseas awareness. The initial audience was ultimately more fanboy and male-skewing. There’s an emotional story linked with The Flash/Barry Allen’s mother in the film, but females didn’t come out. Reaction was mixed. China had a great 9.3 score on Maoyan while France’s AlloCiné score is a not great 3 out of 5 stars and critics are low there at 2.5. Some UK reviews are on the low end as well. The film’s premiere at CinemaCon was well-received, and the movie has an 85% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, but it’s tough to market a movie when you can’t travel the star, something that is key to generating buzz, particularly in offshore markets.
There were No. 1s in 54 markets this weekend while the Andy Muschietti-directed pic is tracking roughly on par with Black Adam in like-for-like offshore hubs and at today’s exchanges. That movie went on to gross $225M internationally, but was not considered a success, and not really the comp folks were hoping for.
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