Box Office Report: ‘The Flash’ Stumbles Out Of The Gate While ‘Elemental’ Is A Disaster For Pixar
Box Office analysis is provided by Daniel Garris of BoxOfficeReport.com.
4-Day Weekend Box Office Report: June 16th - June 19th, 2023
Warner Bros.'s The Flash debuted in first place this weekend with respective estimated three-day and four-day starts of $55.10 million and $64.00 million. However, the latest installment of the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) opened significantly below the low end of pre-release expectations and was off to a soft start with the film's expensive price-tag in mind. Another alarming aspect of the film's debut this weekend is that after earning an estimated $9.7 million from Thursday preview shows that began at 3PM, a three-day debut in the range of $59 million to $65 million for The Flash still felt very achievable. But The Flash began experiencing relative slowing on Friday and wasn't able to recover on Saturday. That is an early sign of lackluster early word of mouth, as is the film's B rating on CinemaScore; which would normally be a respectable CinemaScore rating, but is low by the lofty standards for comic book based films. While on paper it seemed as though The Flash had a lot going for it, at the same time the film also had to deal with a very crowded marketplace this weekend (including fairly direct competition from Sony's Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse), the fact that The Flash isn't an upper-tier comic book character in terms of popularity when it comes to more mainstream audiences, backlash towards star Ezra Miller (especially among young adults) and the fact that audiences appear to have lost some interest in the DCEU as it continues to inch closer to transitioning into the upcoming DCU (see the performance of Shazam! Fury of the Gods earlier this year). The Flash was directed by Andy Muschietti and stars Miller, Sasha Calle, Michael Shannon and Michael Keaton (whose return as Batman doesn't appear to have saved the day at the box office).
The Flash started out with $24.50 million on Friday (including the mentioned $9.7 million from Thursday previews), declined a troubling 35.9 percent on Saturday to take in $15.70 million, with the aid of Father's Day is estimated to decrease a slim 5.1 percent on Sunday to gross $14.90 million and is estimated to decrease 40.3 percent on Juneteenth Monday to gross $8.90 million. The audience breakdown for The Flash skewed 63 percent male, 37 percent female, 70 percent over 25 and just 30 percent under 25. Over the four-day weekend, The Flash grossed an estimated $8.2 million from domestic IMAX screens, which represented 12.8 percent of the film's overall four-day gross. All premium screen formats represented an estimated 40 percent of this weekend's overall performance for The Flash.
Internationally, The Flash Started out with an estimated $75.0 million from 79 international markets. That places the global launch through Sunday for The Flash at $130.1 million. Estimated debuts for The Flash by international market this weekend included $13.8 million in China, $9.4 million in Mexico, $5.3 million in the United Kingdom, $3.7 million in South Korea, $3.5 million in Brazil, $3.0 million in Australia, $2.8 million in France, $2.6 million in Indonesia, $2.5 million in India, $1.9 million in Taiwan, $1.6 million in Hong Kong and $1.5 million in Japan. Through Sunday, The Flash has grossed an estimated $7.4 million from international IMAX screens, including an estimated $2.3 million from China.
Disney and Pixar's Elemental opened in second place with respective estimated three-day and four-day grosses of $29.50 million and $33.34 million. Like The Flash, Elemental also opened below pre-release expectations. Elemental was off to an even lower start than The Flash while reportedly having a price-tag in the same neighborhood, but Elemental had much lower pre-release expectations and displayed better initial holding power over the weekend than The Flash has. Elemental opened significantly lower than the $39.12 million three-day start of Disney and Pixar's Onward back in March of 2020, just before the temporary closing of domestic theatres. Since then, with three films debuting on Disney+, last year's Lightyear being a box office disappointment and Elemental now off to a modest start, Pixar has yet to regain its footing at the theatrical box office. Elemental was directed by Peter Sohn and features the vocal talent of Leah Lewis and Mamoudou Athie.
Elemental started out with an estimated $11.80 million on Friday (which included an estimated $2.4 million from Thursday preview shows that began at 3PM), declined 16.9 percent on Saturday to take in $9.80 million, is estimated to decrease 19.4 percent on Sunday to gross $7.90 million and is estimated to slow 51.5 percent on Monday to gross $3.84 million. The audience breakdown for Elemental skewed 63 percent female, 37 percent male, 55 percent under 25 and 45 percent over 25. Family audiences made up an estimated 59 percent of the film's overall audience. Elemental looks to be going over very well with audiences, as the film received a strong A rating on CinemaScore. Internationally, Elemental started out with an estimated $15.0 million this weekend from 17 select international markets. That places the film's global total at $44.5 million through Sunday. Estimated debuts for Elemental by international market this weekend included $5.2 million in China, $3.2 million in South Korea, $1.1 million in Australia and $1.0 million in Argentina.
Sony's Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse placed in third over the three-day weekend with an estimated $27.80 million. That was down a sizable 49.9 percent from last weekend, but the decline was quite reasonable given that Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse had to deal with new competition from both The Flash and Elemental. For the four-day Juneteenth holiday frame, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is estimated to gross $32.42 million, which means the film still has a chance of surpassing Elemental for second place over the four-day weekend. Through Monday, the estimated 18-day domestic total for Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse stands at a very impressive $285.00 million. That places the film 5.4 percent ahead of the $270.48 million recently grossed by Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 through its first 18 days of release.
Internationally, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse grossed an estimated $27.6 million this weekend from 60 international markets. Respective totals for the film through Sunday stand at $209.0 million internationally and at $489.3 million globally. Estimated totals for Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse by international market through Sunday include $41.3 million in China, $25.3 million in the United Kingdom, $23.7 million in Mexico, $14.6 million in Australia, $10.1 million in Brazil, $9.2 million in France, $5.9 million in Germany, $5.8 million in Spain, $5.6 million in India and $5.6 million in Italy. This weekend also saw Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse debut with an estimated $2.8 million in Japan.
On the heels of last weekend's stronger than expected first place debut, Paramount's Transformers: Rise of the Beasts declined a very sharp, but not terribly surprising 67.2 percent for an estimated fourth place three-day take of $20.00 million this weekend. Transformers: Rise of the Beasts is estimated to gross $23.00 million over the four-day frame. Transformers: Rise of the Beasts is estimated to pass the $100 million domestic mark on Sunday and the film's eleven-day start through Monday stands at an estimated $103.62 million. Through the end of its second Monday, 2017's Transformers: The Last Knight grossed a similar $105.67 million, but as a midweek release, that was through thirteen days of release as opposed to eleven days for Rise of the Beasts. Internationally, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts grossed an estimated $37.2 million this weekend from 68 international markets. That brings the film's international total to $174.3 million (including $60.6 million from China) and global total to $274.9 million through Sunday.
Disney's The Little Mermaid rounded out the weekend's top five with respective estimated three-day and four-day grosses of $11.60 million and $13.34 million. As was the case with Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, The Little Mermaid also experienced a 49.9 percent decline over the three-day frame. The Little Mermaid has now surpassed the $250 million domestic mark, as the film's estimated 25-day total through Monday stands at $255.30 million. That is 4.2 percent behind the $266.44 million 25-day domestic total of 2019's Aladdin (which declined only 29.9 percent in its fourth weekend to gross $17.31 million). Internationally, The Little Mermaid added an estimated $15.3 million this weekend from 52 international markets. Respective totals for The Little Mermaid stand at $212.4 million internationally and at $466.0 million globally through Sunday.
Lionsgate's The Blackening started out in sixth place with respective three-day and four-day starts of $6.00 million and $7.00 million. That was a bit under consensus expectations for the R-rated horror comedy heading into the weekend, but in the same general ballpark. Unlike all of the films ahead of it in this weekend's rankings, The Blackening carried a low production budget. Potential for The Blackening was also likely limited somewhat this weekend by the film's 1,775 location count. The Blackening has gone over well with critics and also looks to be going over pretty well with audiences after receiving a solid B+ rating on CinemaScore. The Blackening was directed by Tim Story and features an ensemble cast that includes Grace Byers, Jermaine Fowler, Melvin Gregg, X Mayo, Dewayne Perkins, Antoinette Robertson and Sinqua Walls.
On the platform front, Focus's Asteroid City was off to an exceptional start with an estimated $720,000 over the three-day frame from 6 locations in New York and Los Angeles. That gave the Wes Anderson directed film a per-location average of $131,667 over the three-day weekend, which was the highest per-location average for any platform release since the re-opening of domestic theatres, the highest per-location average for any platform launch since La La Land back in December of 2016 and the highest per-location average ever for a platform release from Focus. The four-day estimate for Asteroid City stands at $890,000. Asteroid City is currently scheduled to expand to an estimated 1,500 locations this coming Friday (June 23).
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