> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.theomnicosm.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # ‘The Flash’ wins the weekend in less-than-heroic fashion - URL: https://www.theomnicosm.com/the-box-office-report-the-flash-wins/ - Published: 2023-06-19T11:01:28.000Z - Updated: 2024-01-19T16:28:48.000Z - Description: Two Ezra Millers and Michael Keaton’s return as Batman weren’t enough to make ‘The Flash’ a massive hit. - Author: Bill Kuchman - Tags: Popculturology • The Box Office Report, Popculturology, DC Studios, The Flash Hello! Welcome to **The** **Box Office Report** for the weekend of June 16-18, 2023. Before we get into this weekend’s box office, I need to mention that **Popculturology** will be off this Tuesday, June 20\. With the long weekend, pop culture news is slim. I’ll see you all again on Friday. ## 1\. The Flash **Weekend gross:* $55.1M* **Total domestic gross:* $55.1M* **Last weekend:* New release* **Percent drop:* NA* *The Flash* won the weekend, but it wasn’t pretty. While earlier tracking had *The Flash* on pace for a $60 million to $70 million opening weekend, the **Ezra Miller** extravaganza stalled out with a $55.1 million debut. As opening weekends go for DCEU movies, *The Flash* wasn’t the worst recent debut (that would be *Shazam! Fury of the Gods*’ $30.1 million weekend), but it didn’t live up to the $67 million that *Black Adam* scored its opening weekend. (Never thought we’d be using *Black Adam* as a standard to live up to …) What went wrong with *The Flash*? Having a star that Warner Bros. had to keep off the red carpets and away from the press surely didn’t help. Audiences gave *The Flash* a B through *CinemaScore*, which is kind of awful for a movie, and a sign that *The Flash* didn’t didn’t have positive word-of-mouth reactions to give it a boost through Saturday and Sunday. Even more baffling was the choice of Warner Bros. to repeatedly insist that *The Flash* was one of the greatest superhero movies ever made. Whether it was **James Gunn**, **David Zaslav** or **Tom Cruise**, we heard over and over again that this was some kind of masterpiece. Unless you can deliver on that promise, that’s an easy way to set a movie up to be a disappointment. ****Popculturology** is a free newsletter fueled by my love of pop culture. If you already are a subscriber, ****please consider becoming a supporter** by [upgrading your account](https://www.theomnicosm.com/#/portal/). ## 2\. Elemental **Weekend gross:* $29.5M* **Total domestic gross:* $29.5M* **Last weekend:* New release* **Percent drop:* NA* I don’t know if Pixar can come back from the hole Disney dug for it during the pandemic. Yes, there are creative issues going on over the studio, but Pixar still produced *Turning Red*, *Luca* and *Soul* over the past few years. Disney automatically sending all of those movies to Disney+ during the pandemic, though, conditioned moviegoers to see Pixar films as movies to watch on streaming, not in theaters. *Elemental*’s $29.5 million opening weekend couldn’t even match the $50.6 million that *Lightyear* debuted with this same weekend last year — and that film is widely considered to be a flop for Pixar. ## 3\. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse **Weekend gross:* $27.8M* **Total domestic gross:* $280.4M* **Last weekend:* 2nd* **Percent drop:* 50* I predicted that *Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse* would beat out *Elemental* this weekend, and it was close. The film finished less than $2 million behind Pixar’s latest — close enough where we could see a flip when final numbers come in. *Across the Spider-Verse* has shown little sign of slowing down. With the exception of last Friday when Thursday preview numbers were rolled into *Transformers: Rise of the Beasts*’ Friday total, *Across the Spider-Verse* was the No. 1 film in North America every day leading up to this weekend. *Across the Spider-Verse* is closing in on $300 million at the domestic box office and $500 million worldwide. It’s already grossed almost $100 million more than *Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse* did over its entire run. ♥️ Follow me on [****Threads**](https://www.threads.net/@billkuchman?ref=theomnicosm.com) and [****Instagram**](https://www.instagram.com/popculturology/?ref=theomnicosm.com). ## 4\. Transformers: Rise of the Beasts **Weekend gross:* $20M* **Total domestic gross:* $100.6M* **Last weekend:* 1st* **Percent drop:* 67* *Transformers: Rise of the Beasts* tumbled to No. 4 after winning the box office last weekend. A 67 percent drop isn’t great, and with everything else on the way the next few weekends, I suspect we’re going to see the latest *Transformers* movie tumble out of view very quickly. ## 5\. The Little Mermaid **Weekend gross:* $11.6M* **Total domestic gross:* $253.6M* **Last weekend:* 3rd* **Percent drop:* 50* *The Little Mermaid*’s lockstep performance alongside the live-action *Aladdin* tapered off a bit this week, with *The Little Mermaid* grossing $11.6 million its fourth weekend in theaters while *Aladdin* grossed $17.3 that same frame. *Box office numbers via* [*The Numbers*](http://www.the-numbers.com/?ref=theomnicosm.com) *based on Sunday estimates.* ## Next weekend It’ll be interesting to see how the box office shakes out next weekend. **Wes Anderson**’s *Asteroid City* and *No Hard Feelings*, the R-rated comedy starring **Jennifer Lawrence**, both open wide on Friday. I’m not sure either of those movies have the strength to capture the top spot at the box office, but with the exception of *Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse*, the competition from returning films is pretty soft. That’s the end of this edition of ****Popculturology**. Thanks for reading the newsletter. If you already are a subscriber, ****please consider becoming a supporter** by [upgrading your account](https://www.theomnicosm.com/#/portal/).