As the box office numbers keep making abundantly clear on a daily basis, nobody is paying to see The Flash on the big screen, with even a 2-for-1 offer on tickets doing little to stop it from securing the biggest second-weekend drop in DCU history.
On the plus side, it did manage to cross $200 million at the global box office which is at least something, with Ezra Miller’s starring vehicle also avoiding the ignominy of falling behind Morbius to set an all-time superhero record. However, a curious development has showcased that people are willing to watch The Flash, on the provision the entire things leaks online.
That’s right; after less than two weeks in theaters, all two hours and change of The Flash appeared on Twitter and immediately went viral, with upwards of 1.7 million users at the very least glancing at the footage before Warner Bros. embarked on its inevitable takedown spree, but the damage had already been done long before that.
A grainy copy of a major blockbuster being surreptitiously uploaded to social media is hardly a new development, but very rarely does it affect box office takings in a tangible way. The Flash was doomed long before that point as it continually checked off box office milestones of all the wrong kinds on a near-daily basis, so it’s negligible in the grand scheme of things.
That being said, it sums up the DCU epic’s rotten luck that even more misery is being piled upon its shoulders, and there’s something ironic in folks giving it a shot when it’s entirely free of charge.