‘The Flash’ dashes to box office win but stumbles short of estimates

WARNER Bros’ The Flash sprinted to the top of the North American box office in its opening weekend, in a Friday-to-Sunday run dominated by spin-offs and sequels.

But the live-action take on the DC Comics superhero only brought in US$55.1 million, as indicated by figures released on Sunday by Exhibitor Relations – earnings that analysts said were “far below estimates” for its debut.

Ezra Miller stars as the speedy protagonist, joined by other DC characters including Supergirl and Batman. The film dethroned Paramount’s latest Transformers instalment, which was last weekend’s top earner.

Notching the No 2 spot this weekend was Elemental, an animated immigrant fable from Pixar, which earned US$29.5 million in what was also its opening weekend.

Pixar’s first original new film to hit theatres since the start of the pandemic is set in the fantastical Element City – where residents made out of fire, water, earth and air must learn to live in close proximity, despite their highly combustible differences.

Of the top five highest-earning films this weekend, the rest were rounded out by movies with characters already familiar to generations of audiences.

Sony’s Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse picked up US$27.8 million, bringing its cumulative domestic total to more than US$280 million so far, with an additional US$209 million internationally.

The film, a sequel to 2018’s Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and the latest spin on the Marvel Comics superhero, picks up the story of half-Black, half-Latino Miles Morales, using an eye-popping blend of decades-old 2D comic book drawing techniques with the latest computer-generated visual effects.

Dropping to fourth place was Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, which earned US$20 million, part of a US$103.6 million haul so far.

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Disney’s The Little Mermaid, a live-action remake of its 1989 animated tale of an underwater princess who gives up her voice in pursuit of true love, brought in US$11.6 million. The film has now earned some US$253.5 million.

Rounding out the top 10 were:

- The Blackening (US$6 million),

- Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (US$5 million)

- The Boogeyman (US$3.8 million)

- Fast X (US$1.6 million)

- Asteroid City (limited release, US$790,000) AFP