Warner Bros.’ ‘The Flash’ tanks at box office with 72% drop-off

It appears “The Flash” is causing more headaches for Warner Bros. 

The new DC superhero film debuted in theaters on June 16 and could end up costing Warner Bros. “The Flash” had a dramatic drop in its second week at the box office with $15.2 million for the big-budget offering. 

The second-week output for the film, which stars Ezra Miller, fell off by 72% after opening with a subpar $55 million.

So far, the numbers “The Flash” have accumulated haven’t measured up for a movie with a $200 million production budget.

FOX Business has reached out to a rep for Warner Bros. for comment. 

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On the other hand, “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” went back to the top of the box office with its fourth week in theaters. This helped the Sony film reach $317.1 million domestically and an impressive $560.3 million worldwide.

The animated sequel also beat out “Elemental,” which took second place for the second week in a row with an estimated $18.5 million.

“For a film like this to crawl and spin a web back into the No. 1 spot is very rare,” said Paul Dergarabedian, the senior media analyst for Comscore. “It’s a testament to the quality of the movie. This is a very competitive and crowded summer movie marketplace. And yet ‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’ has distinguished itself as one of the biggest movies this summer season.”

DC has two upcoming films in the works, “Blue Beetle,” which is set to be released on Aug. 18, and Jason Momoa returning to “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom” at the end of this year on Dec. 20.

Some are crediting “The Flash’s” struggles to Miller’s off-screen behavior that has included arrests and misconduct. The actor has apologized and sought mental health treatment.

Miller, who portrays Barry Allen in the film, has faced several run-ins with the law over the past several years.

Miller pleaded not guilty in October 2022 to stealing liquor from a neighbor’s home in Vermont, one of a string of arrests and reports of erratic behavior by the actor last year that stretched from Hawaii to New England.

The actor was arrested twice in Hawaii last year, including for disorderly conduct and harassment at a karaoke bar. Following the arrests, it was reported that Miller’s projects with Warner Bros. and DC were in jeopardy.

Rolling Stone reported that the production companies had an emergency meeting after the actor’s legal trouble in Hawaii. 

After the meeting, the committee reportedly agreed to pause all projects involving Miller and all public appearances they had scheduled to support the DC Cinematic Universe.

The Associated Press contributed to this report