The Flash

The Flash is a 2023 American superhero film based on the DC Comics character of the same name. Produced by Warner Bros. Pictures, DC Studios, Double Dream and Disco Factory and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, it is the 13th installment in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU). Andy Muschietti directed the film from a screenplay by Christina Hodgson, based on a story by the team written by Joby Harold and John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein. It stars Ezra Miller as Barry Allen/The Flash in his film debut alongside Sasha Cale, Michael Shannon, Ron Livingston, Maribel Verdue, Kiersey Clemons, Antje True and Michael Keaton. In the film, Barry travels back in time to prevent his mother’s death, which brings unintended consequences.

Development of a film based on The Flash began in the late 1980s, with multiple writers and directors attached to the project as of 2014. The film was then redeveloped as a part of the DCEU, with Miller playing the title character. Several directors were attached to the film in the following years, with Seth Grahame-Smith, Rick Famuyiwa, and the duo of Daley and Goldstein leaving the project due to creative differences. Muschietti and Hodgson joined the film in July 2019, and pre-production began in January 2020. The film is influenced by the comic book storyline Flashpoint (2011), which also features other DC characters such as Calle’s Supergirl and both versions of Ben Affleck and Keaton. batman Principal photography took place from April to October 2021 at Warner Bros. Studios, Livesden and on location around the UK.

The Flash premiered on June 12, 2023 at Grauman’s Chinese Theater in Los Angeles, Hollywood, and was released in the United States on June 16 due to director changes, the COVID-19 pandemic, post-production backlogs, and multiple delays. Controversy surrounds Miller. The film received mixed reviews from critics, who praised its humor, action sequences and acting, but criticized the third act and visual effects. The film grossed $270.6 million worldwide, becoming one of the biggest box-office bombs of all time, with Warner Bros. estimating a loss of $200 million.

Details

After helping Bruce Wayne/Batman and Diana Prince/Wonder Woman stop a robbery in Gotham City, Barry Allen returns to his childhood home, where he lived with his parents Nora and Henry, before Henry was wrongfully imprisoned for Nora’s murder. After her death, Nora sends Henry to a grocery store a can of tomatoes she forgot to buy, leaving him alone in the kitchen, where he is killed by an unknown assailant. Speed Force to form a “chronobole” and return to earlier times of the day. Despite Bruce’s warning about the unintended consequences of time travel, Barry time travels and puts a can of tomatoes in Nora’s cart at the store, so his father doesn’t have to leave the house. When he returns to the present, Barry is knocked out of the Chronobol by an unknown speedster and ends up in 2013 where Nora lives. He meets his parents, his past and realizes that this is the day he originally gained his powers.

To confirm his past self gained superpowers, the two Barrys go to the Central City Police Department, where Barry recreates the event for 2013—Barry is struck by lightning. Both are struck by lightning, giving 2013-Barry powers, but Barry loses his own. Barry 2013-While struggling to train Barry to use his powers properly, they learn that General Zod is preparing to invade Earth. In their timeline, Diana cannot be found, Victor Stone has yet to gain his powers, and Arthur Curry does not exist. They travel to Wayne Manor, hoping to find Bruce, but instead find an alternate version who has long since retired. Bruce theorizes that using time travel to change history affects events both before and after the change. They help Bruce return as Batman and find Kal-El/Superman.

Barris and Batman locate a Kryptonian pod discovered in Siberia. Upon arriving, they instead find Kal-El’s cousin Kara Zor-El imprisoned in the facility. They rescue Kara and return to Wayne Mansion. Barry enlists Bruce’s help to regain his powers once again. The first two attempts fail, prompting Kara to take Barry into a storm, where he regains his powers. Kara and Batman join Barris to fight Zod and his forces. During the battle, Kara learns that Zod intercepted Kal-El’s escape pod and killed him in the process of extracting the codex needed to revive the Kryptonian species. Whose codex is actually inside? Zod subdues and kills him, then extracts the codex from his blood; Meanwhile, Batman devotes himself to a failed attempt to destroy Zod’s ship.

Barris repeatedly travels through time to save Batman and Kara but fails. Barry realizes that this sequence of events cannot be changed, but 2013-Barry keeps trying. 2013-The multiverse begins to explode as Barry travels. The unknown speedster who initially knocked Barry out of the Speed Force returns and is revealed as an older, futuristic version of 2013-Barry who still believes he can defeat Zod and save his world. He is outraged when Barry reveals his intention to reverse the changes he made to the timeline by letting Nora die. The older 2013-Barry tries to kill Barry, but instead impales the younger 2013-Barry, who sacrifices himself to save Barry and erase his future self from the timeline.

Barry turns back the timeline and comes to terms with his mother’s death; However, he subtly changes the past by moving the cans of tomatoes to a higher shelf. Back in the present day, Barry attends Henry’s court hearing, where security footage now shows Henry searching for a can of tomatoes to grab, allowing him to be acquitted. After returning to the present, Barry interacts with Bruce, whose appearance has again changed due to the timeline change.

Cast and characters

Ezra Miller as Barry Allen / The Flash:
A police forensic investigator in Central City and a member of the Justice League who can travel at superhuman speeds using the Speed Force. Miller describes Barry as multidimensional, with human flaws. Miller also portrayed an alternate younger version of Barry from 2013 and a dark, evil older version of the same Barry. Ian Loh portrays a young Barry in flashbacks, and Ed Wade, who doubles as Miller, physically portrays both versions of the 2013-Barry character in scenes.
Sasha Cole as Kara Zor-El / Supergirl:
A powerful Kryptonian with powers, abilities and a costume similar to his cousin Kal-El/Clark Kent/Superman. Calle is the first Latina actress to play Supergirl.
Michael Shannon as General Zod:
A Kryptonian general who possesses the same powers as Superman and was killed in Man of Steel (2013). This version comes from an alternate timeline, where Kara has landed on Earth instead of Kal-El. Shannon received Man of Steel director Zack Snyder’s blessing to reprise his role, after initially being hesitant to do so due to the troubled history between Snyder and Warner Bros. regarding his next DCEU production.
Ron Livingston as Henry Allen:
Barry’s father who is wrongfully convicted of his wife’s murder. Livingston replaces Billy Crudup, who previously portrayed the character in Justice League (2017) and its director’s cut Zack Snyder’s Justice League (2021).
Maribel Verdue as Nora Allen: Barry’s mother who was killed in his youth.
Kiersey Clemons as Iris West: A reporter for Picture News and a love interest for Barry.
Faora-Ul: Antje True as General Zod’s second-in-command, who was sent to the Phantom Zone at the end of Man of Steel. This version comes from an alternate timeline, where Kara has landed on Earth instead of Kal-El.
Michael Keaton as Bruce Wayne/Batman:
A wealthy socialite in Gotham City who moonlights as a crime-fighting vigilante. This version of Wayne is a variation on the DCEU character portrayed by Ben Affleck, resulting from Barry’s tampering with the timeline. Keaton previously played the role in Batman (1989) and Batman Returns (1992).
Affleck appears as the original version of Bruce Wayne/Batman from Barry’s timeline and the leader of the Justice League, unexpectedly, reprising his role from past DCEU appearances. Director Andy Muschietti said that the character had a considerable emotional impact on the film through her relationship with Barry, as both their mothers were killed. Affleck said his scenes in the film were his favorite as the character and a “beautiful ending” to his time as Batman. He added that he felt that during the five minutes of his scene in the film he “really understood the character” and figured out how to play him.
George Clooney appears at the end of Affleck’s version, uncredited, as a variation of Bruce Wayne; Clooney previously starred in Batman & Robin (1997).
Also reprising their respective DCEU roles are Jeremy Irons as Alfred Pennyworth, Temuera Morrison as an alternate version of Tom Curry from the 2013-Barry timeline, Gal Gadot as Diana Prince/Wonder Woman (unexpected), and Arthur Curry/Jason as Aquaman. Momoa (uncredited). Additionally, Saoirse-Monica Jackson and Rudy Mancuso portray Barry’s co-workers Patty Spivot and Albert Desmond, respectively, while Sanjeev Bhaskar appears as Barry’s boss David Singh. Luke Brandon Field portrays Al Falcone, the leader of the terrorist group that robs Gotham General Hospital at the beginning of the film. Nikolaj Coster-Waldau makes an uncredited appearance as a man from whom Barry steals a pizza in 2013, and director Andy Muschietti makes a cameo appearance as a journalist Barry steals a hot dog from in the present day. Carl Collins appears as Henry Allen’s lawyer.

The DCEU version of Superman is also seen through the use of computer-generated imagery (CGI) using the likeness of Henry Cavill; Jai Courtney appears as Digger Harkness/Captain Boomerang in a similar CGI sequence in the film. Nicolas Cage made a cameo appearance as an alternate version of Superman, when he previously appeared in the unrelated animated film Teen Titans Go! Near the Cinema (2018); He originally played Superman in Tim Burton’s unproduced film Superman Lives. Cage shot his scenes with volumetric capture and CGI was used to render him. Through artificial intelligence and deepfaking, previous incarnations of Superman, Batman, and Supergirl appear during the “Speed Force” sequence, including Christopher Reeve as Superman in the 1978–1987 Superman films, Helen Slater as Supergirl from Supergirl (194), (194) the 1966 film, and Adam West as Batman from the television series and George Reeves as a version of Superman from Superman and the Mole Men (1951) and Adventures of Superman (1952–1958) through the use of archive footage. Archival recordings of Cesar Romero and Jack Nicholson as the 1960s series and 1989 film versions of the Joker, along with Earth Kits Catwoman from the 1960s series respectively, are also featured. The character Jay Garrick also appears through the use of CGI; His likeness was based on Jason Ballantine, one of the film’s editors.

Box Office

The Flash grossed $108.1 million in the United States and Canada and $162.5 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $270.6 million. After its lackluster opening weekend, the film is considered one of the biggest box-office bombs of all time, with an expected loss of $200 million for Warner Bros.

In the United States and Canada, The Flash was released alongside Elemental and The Blackening, and was initially projected to gross $68–85 million in its opening weekend from 4,234 theaters. It was also expected to have a worldwide opening of $155-165 million, with $85-95 million internationally. However, it opened with $24.1 million (including $9.7 million in Thursday night previews), after dropping weekend estimates to $60 million. It had a $55 million domestic opening with an additional $75 million from international markets for a worldwide debut of $130 million. In the UK and Ireland, the film debuted with £4.2 million ($5.4 million) at the box office. Several publications labeled the film a box office bomb, The Hollywood Reporter called it “snubbed”, and /Film stated that publicity had “turned into hot air” after poor box-office returns. The poor box-office opening was attributed to various controversies surrounding Ezra Miller, mixed reviews, competition from Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, initial hype “unwanted”, the upcoming DCU reboot, the decline of the superhero film genre (labeled “superhero fatigue”). being), and moderate critical reviews. The film retains IMAX screens and other premium formats next weekend, which could provide some padding from the expected box-office decline from its opening weekend. In its second weekend, the film fell 72% to $15.1 million, the third-largest sophomore drop for a superhero film behind Morbius (2022) and Steel (1997). In its third weekend, the film dropped another 65% to $5.2 million, losing 1,538 theaters and finishing in eighth place in the process. The Flash concludes its theatrical run in the United States and Canada on August 17, 2023.

About

Directed by	Andy Muschietti
Screenplay by	Christina Hodson
Story by	·         John Francis Daley ·         Jonathan Goldstein ·         Joby Harold
Based on	Characters from DC
Produced by	·         Barbara Muschietti ·         Michael Disco
Starring	·         Ezra Miller ·         Sasha Calle ·         Michael Shannon ·         Ron Livingston ·         Maribel Verdú ·         Kiersey Clemons ·         Antje Traue ·         Michael Keaton
Cinematography	Henry Braham
Edited by	·         Jason Ballantine ·         Paul Machliss
Music by	Benjamin Wallfisch
Production companies	·         Warner Bros. Pictures ·         DC Studios ·         Double Dream ·         The Disco Factory
Distributed by	Warner Bros. Pictures
Release dates	·         June 12, 2023 (Grauman’s Chinese Theatre) ·         June 16, 2023 (United States)
Running time	144 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$200–220 million
Box office	$270.6 million

ScreenShots