The Flash failed, in part, because “people just don’t care about The Flash,” says Andy Muschietti
More than two years after The Flash failed to enter the speed force with audiences, director Andy Muschietti explains why he thinks the movie didn’t connect.
Screenshot: YouTube
Among the longest-running heroes in the DC canon, the Flash has been a popular comic book and television character for nearly 100 years. However, despite being one of the top five or six most recognizable DC characters ever, he stumbled out the gate on the big screen. Sure, the Scarlet Speedster moves fast enough to carry a network television show for a decade and win the Academy Award shout-out for the “most cheer-worthy” moment, but when allowed to lead his own movie, the results spelled the end for an entire cinematic universe. So why didn’t anyone care? Was it the bad press surrounding Ezra Miller’s bizarre and dangerous behavior? Superhero fatigue? An opening scene in which Flash shoves a waxy baby in a microwave? According to director Andy Muschietti, it’s simple: The Flash was not a four-quadrant movie.
Appearing on La Baulera Del Coso on Radio TU, Muschietti performed a two-years-late Flash debrief, breaking down why the film failed to connect with audiences. Ultimately, he believes that The Flash “wasn’t a movie that appealed to all four quadrants. It failed at that.” Apparently, when Warner Bros. spends $200 million on a movie, they expect to “bring even your grandmother to the theaters.” Warners should tell directors upfront because the same problem befell Furiosa and Joker: Folie À Deux. But Muschietti also learned “in private conversations” that most people “just don’t care about the Flash as a character.” That’s fair, considering he’s on a tier below Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman. Still, it does not explain why people saw Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness a month earlier. Is he implying that people care about Doctor Strange? We kid. We know someone must.
Nevertheless, we’re not sure how airtight that logic is, considering Aquaman, a character that, surely, people care about even less than Flash, made a successful splash on the big screen. As did Shazam. Perhaps The Flash told fans that they didn’t have to see these movies anymore because the audience was mostly gone when Aquaman and Shazam returned for seconds. It’s sad to say, but yesterday’s cheer-worthy champion is today’s four-quadrant failure.