THE FLASH: Insiders Break Down Movie's Dismal Box Office Performance And Marketing Mistakes

@soberchimera - Also, The Dark Knight Rises still made over a billion and actually made more than The Dark Knight despite it being the last film in the trilogy and "not mattering going forward".

@soberchimera - It also doesn't explain Black Adam's dismal performance.

Why don't they use The Batman as a reason for every subsequent DCEU film failing.
Or Joker for them suddenly making way less money (remember Aquaman came out a year before Joker and made a big, round billy).

Most people are unaware of the Gods and Monsters announcement. That's a fan thing. If it's because they know there's a better DC universe out there, then it's Joker or The Batman.

Also, James Gunn actually had the opportunity to MAKE The Flash matter to the future plans. It ending with a rebooted universe was a perfect opportunity, but instead he chose to abandon it to the same hell that Batman & Robin currently burns in.

@JFerguson - Yes. This.

I know it would have been pricey to reshoot with another actor but it would have actually been worth it, it would have given them time to fix the VFX and even the script.

A major criticism of the movie is that it felt like a sequel to a movie that didn't happen. This has been a big problem with the Snyderverse since 2016, with the only movies that didn't make people feel like they'd skipped a few chapters being Wonder Woman and Aquaman.
So I would have spent less time in the Snyderverse. I would not have done a mini-Justice League sequel, because nobody saw or cared abouut that movie.

I would have started the film with the scenes detailing Barry's mother's murder and then ACTUALLY SHOWN THE ORIGIN and then had the opening sequence with the babies take place during the Man of Steel finale (so like the opening of BvS but from a third perspective with nods to Bruce Wayne's involvement in the BvS version too). Flash would have been in his proto-suit and it would set-up the finale better.

Then we're back in the present with Barry talking to Batfleck. He's been sharing his origins this whole time and they're having a heart to heart. Basically the same scene as was in the movie talking about time travel (which he would have almost done in the Man of Steel segment).
Then he's looking at the video evidence and checking the footage and talking to his dad on the phone and it's then that he realises that he could just change one little thing and he's gone back in time after only 10 minutes of the movie.
(So no Iris. She served no purpose in this movie whatsoever. And no early Star Labs thing with his boss and colleagues or any of that. It's fat and sets up nothing (well nothing so vital).

Then I would have him meet Keaton around the 20-30 minute mark (plot point 1) and that means we get to actually write an actual story for the second and third act instead of just getting the characters from A-B and then killing them.

With necessary script changes, more improved CG, NO EZRA and a good year or so of build up (this time with fans not restraining themselves), this movie would be a big blockbuster event.

They could have also segued into the DCU a lot more easily because it would have come at the end of all the other movies and just before the new movies. They could have set-up the new Batman at the end of it for Brave and the Bold.

The Flash is fixable. It's not the worst DCEU movie. But with Ezra and that CG? It was always doomed to die. It was a fixed point in the timeline where they refuse to recast.

Honestly a better version of this with Calle as Supergirl and Keaton as Batman would have [frick]ing killed at the box office (instead of the box office killing it).

@JFerguson - good cgi doesn’t make movie success all time it’s other things