Eager to see the first standalone movie about the DCEU’s fastest man alive, moviegoers from all over the world flocked to theaters to watch “The Flash” on its opening weekend, leading to a huge US$ 139-million global box office take.
In the Philippines, the film debuted at No.1 with a smash P45-million gross on its five-day opening weekend June 14 – 18, which marks Warner Bros.’ biggest opening for 2023, after another superhero blockbuster, “Shazam: Fury of the Gods” last March.
“The Flash,” starring Ezra Miller as the titular superhero, Sasha Calle as Supergirl, and Michael Keaton as Batman, has scored well with audiences, and it currently holds an 85% audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Critics here and abroad have also lauded the film, which director James Gunn earlier this year described as “one of the best superhero movies I’ve ever seen.”
Empire magazine agrees, “Set to be one of the final entries in what we know as the DCEU, this is also one of the best, a witty and warm buddy comedy that deserves to be more than just a Flash in the pan.”
According to CNN US, “The Flash” is “a movie that wears its love for the comics that inspired it on its crimson-streaked sleeve. Funny, action-packed and effectively touching, anyone familiar with the DC stable of heroes should run, not walk, to see it.”
Popular Australian website News.com.au commends “The Flash” too, calling it “a movie that surprisingly balances the outsized action thrills with emotional heft.”
Locally, Manila Bulletin raves, “‘The Flash’ is a worthy entry to the DC pantheon. That it took so many years for Flash to finally get his own starring film may be a mind-puzzler to most observers, plus the fact that in itself, this film is four years in the making. But now that it’s here, it’s good to be able to say that it was well worth the wait!”
Rappler summed it up well, saying of the film, “All in all, for all the challenges in its way, it’s a fun, sometimes silly, sometimes effectively dramatic and affecting movie that tells a good, if all too familiar story, very well.”
