It’s one thing to take pride in your work; it’s another to not see where something went wrong because of that pride. In a recent interview with The Playlist, director Andy Muschietti, who directed DCEU’s The Flash with Ezra Miller, claimed that the project failed at the box office because people wanted it to, while the film itself was very good, saying:
No, we just moved on and understood that sometimes there’s a headwind and a project that you dedicated a lot of work to. And we’re very proud of it. I think it’s a good movie. A lot of people did not see it. But you know how things are these days — people don’t see things, but they like to talk s*it about it, and they like to jump on bandwagons.
While Muschietti himself believed this film deserved more because it was good, it’s ultimately the fans who decide whether or not it’s up to the mark. But at the same time, there’s some truth to what the filmmaker was saying, as Miller’s controversies had a little to do with the film’s performance.
Along With Creative Problems, Ezra Miller’s Controversies Didn’t Help The Flash
With a total collection of $271 million on a budget of $200 million (via The Numbers), it was objectively a bomb in cinemas. But part of the reason this was the case was attributed to all the controversies that the lead star, Ezra Miller, found himself in shortly before the film’s release.
While it may have been before their role in the DCEU, he was once caught in possession of Marijuana in 2011. Then, fast forward to 2020, and his biggest controversy went viral when they were seen choking a woman outside a bar, which was reported to be a ‘serious altercation’ (via Variety).
Later, in 2022, he was also seen conversing with the Ku Klux Klan, where he was seen threatening someone from one of the members of its chapters in an Instagram video that was deleted. In that same year, he was charged with disorderly conduct and harassment, arrested on a second-degree assault charge, and accused of grooming a young girl (via People).
Apart from the controversies, the film itself was one of the major points of contention for the audiences. During the long-winded CGI-heavy segments, the execution of those scenes felt very lackluster in comparison to previous projects in the DCEU. On top of that, while the story was good, the plot points and narrative left much to be desired, leaving fans unfulfilled.
Here’s more information about The Flash below.
Thus, The Flash, which was supposed to be the franchise’s last straw, became one of its biggest failures.
How the DCEU Rushed Itself Out of Business
One of the biggest reasons why the DCEU couldn’t stand the test of time was that Zack Snyder wanted to reach the epic superhero team-up of the Justice League as fast as possible. But then, the problem arose in the form of shallow character exploration of many that were supposed to be pivotal to the franchise’s future.
But even with an exceptional execution in Zack Snyder’s Justice League, the filmmaker was abruptly fired from his role as the film’s director, which is when Joss Whedon took over the project and made 2017’s Justice League. Yet again, the rush to reshoot and create a new film entirely meant that it too suffered from poor quality control and continuity issues.
Therefore, with the release of this film being considered the ‘worst comic book film’ in history, the future of the DCEU became uncertain and bleak. And with future box office and critical failures, it was only a matter of time before the entire franchise was scrapped.
Were you a fan of the DCEU? Or do you like the new DCU more? Tell us in the comments below.
