Box Office: ‘The Flash’ starts with $9.7 million in previews

The highly anticipated photo of the DC superheroes The flash it’s finally here.

The film, starring Ezra Miller in the lead role, began its run at the North American box office with $9.7 million in previews. By way of comparison, Sony Poison it started with $10 million in previews on its way to an $80.3 million domestic opening.

The flash it looked to open in the $70 million range over Father’s Day weekend, but Warner Bros. is counting on an upside. The studio leadership has been hyping the film for months. “It’s the best superhero movie I’ve ever seen,” Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav told theater owners at CinemaCon in late April, before the film was shown in full. Many critics disagree with the assessment; the photo currently has a 67% Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes.

Directed by Andy Muschietti, the film is the second superhero film in Hollywood this summer after Marvel and Disney Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3which grossed $17.3 million in previews before hitting a $118 million domestic debut.

It opens after a tumultuous 2022 for Miller, who has been arrested multiple times and has been the subject of controversy, culminating in a statement from the actor in August last year apologizing for their behavior and saying he would get help to “complex mental health problems”. The actor walked the red carpet at the film’s premiere, but was otherwise absent from the publicity.

Miller plays dual roles as alternate timeline versions of heroic speedster Barry Allen, with Michael Keaton and Ben Affleck making dramatic returns in their respective Batman roles (in Keaton’s case, it’s a return to a character he hasn’t played since 1991 ). Sasha Calle plays Supergirl, while Michael Shannon reprises his role of General Zod from the 2013 film Man of Steel.

After the tepid representation of Shazam! Fury of the Gods AND Black AdamWarner DC films could be box office hits.

Ditto for Pixar, which has Elementary opening this weekend. If the tracking is correct, the film could open in the mid-$30 million range, one of the lowest projections ever for the Disney-owned animation studio.

Elementary it started with $2.4 million in previews.

During the worst of the pandemic, Pixar films were sent directly to Disney+, so the legendary animation company only released one title in theaters: Light year – From After youexcluding reissues. After you opened on March 6, 2020, days before the COVID-19 crisis led to unprecedented theater closures. Light year it was a disappointment, reaching $226.4 million globally in the summer of 2022.

Directed by Peter Sohn (The good dinosaur), the film is set in Element City, where the inhabitants of fire, water, earth and air coexist. Its themes include connection, celebrating differences, and finding one’s place in the world.

The story follows Ember (Leah Lewis), a tough, witty and fiery young woman whose friendship with a saccharine boy named Wade (Mamoudou Athiec) challenges her beliefs about the world they live in, where “the elements don’t mix.”