While The Flash and Elemental won the domestic weekend box office, the two new films disappointed in their debut performances with a haul of only $55.1 million and $29.5 million, respectively.
As reported by Comscore, The Flash also brought in $75 million internationally to help its global tally reach $139 million. Via Box Office Mojo, this opening falls in-between Shazam!'s $53.5 million and Black Adam's $67.0 million and places The Flash at spot #7 in the ranking of the North American opening weekends of DCEU films.
Both of those films failed to cross $400 million at the global box office, which means The Flash likely won't be making much money for Warner Bros. Pictures after an estimated budget of $200 million before marketing.
The Flash also arrives with a lot of baggage, as its star, Ezra Miller, has gotten into legal trouble multiple times during the film's production and was barely a part of the promotion of the film. Furthermore, The Flash is one of the final films of the DCEU and likely isn't going to mean as much in the grand scheme of things of James Gunn and Peter Safran's DCU that will begin with Superman: Legacy.
That’s not to say a movie can’t stand on its own, but even reviews for The Flash are all over the place. In our The Flash review, we said it "may have an unwieldy third act and indulges in too much unearned fan service, but that doesn't stop it from being an entertaining and earnest DC superhero film."
As for Elemental, which also cost roughly $200 million to produce before marketing, it had the worst domestic opening for a new Pixar film ever as it failed to surpass Onward's $39.1 million or The Good Dinosaur's $39.1 million.
Overseas, Elemental only added $15 million to its total for a global box office performance of $44.15 million.
In our Elemental review, we said, "Visually, Pixar is in absolutely top form with the creation of Element City and its inhabitants. Unfortunately, the story is way too thin and none of it makes any sense."
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, on the other hand, is continuing its impressive run and placed third with earnings of $27.8 million in its third weekend in theaters. Spidey's multiversal adventure has now reached $280.3 million in North America and $494.0 million globally.
Transformers: Rise of the Beasts placed fourth with $20 million and The Little Mermaid rounded out the top five with $11.6 million.
For more, check out our explainer of The Flash's ending and post-credits scene, every cameo from the film, and a look at how time travel works in the movie.
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Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.
source https://www.ign.com/articles/the-flash-and-elemental-win-the-weekend-domestic-box-office-but-disappoint-overall