DC Studios' The Flash movie might be the most controversial yet anticipated offering of the franchise. Now that the movie is showing in worldwide cinemas, fans want to know if all the commotion is worth the result of the movie.
Despite the anticipation, Variety recently reported that The Flash disappointed with a $55 million debut, as it was earlier estimated that it would rake in at least $70 million to $75 million in its first three days in theaters.
The film’s opening failure can be linked to Ezra Miller in the titular role, despite their string of scandals that involve alarming behavior. Fans rallied for the actor to be removed from the film, only to get unheard, which is why most believe that some fans boycotted the movie in its debut.
With that, the film’s director, Andy Muschietti, tried to stir the narrative by adding excitement and revealing that there's an extended cut of The Flash that adds about another hour and a half to the superhero movie's already lengthy runtime, signaling that it would be unveiled one day.
Director Andy Muschietti details The Flash’s four-hour cut
Speaking with Vanity Fair, Muschietti discussed The Flash's original four-hour runtime despite the final film already being two hours and 35 minutes long.
“You get excited, and you start improvising with actors, and suddenly you have a scene that has doubled the duration of the script,”
When asked if the fans could see the deleted cut someday, the director gave a reassuring reply, but he affirmed that he was satisfied with the film's final cut.
“Maybe. [But] I’m definitely more happy with this version than the four-hour version.”
The filmmaker explained that it's not easy deciding what remains and what gets scrapped from the movie, but they had to make the hard decision in the grand scheme of things.
“You have to face the edit and say, ‘Okay, we need to remove one hour and a half of this movie. How’s it going to happen?’ At the end of six months, it’s fun. In the beginning, it’s just chaos, and whatever you start doing is wrong, seen in hindsight, because it’s trial and error. You try a lot of things.”
Muschietti added that having all that interesting material, including the special cameos and other surprises could push the film to a five-hour theatrical run, but they had to be reasonable and trim down the movie.
“There’s a lot of things that are in the movie that are on the edit room floor, but this is really the best version of the movie... Some [cut scenes] are more interesting than others. Many things are very cool things, but they somehow step on the propulsion, on the pacing of the movie, which is something that you always have to have in mind.”
Despite the film's trailing opening numbers, The Flash is well-received by the big names in the industry, including Stephen King, Tom Cruise, and Henry Cavill, who call it one of the best films of the year.
Not to give anything away, The Flash is said to have the biggest and wildest superhero cameos as it sees Barry Allen travel back in time to change the course of events that led to his mother's death, resulting in a conversion of alternate realities.
The Flash is now playing in cinemas.
