The Flash has had its fair share of production delays and controversies, from losing its director to Ezra Miller being accused of a multitude of crimes. According to a recent report, however, a sequel script has already been written.
The Flash began production nearly 10 years ago with the casting of Ezra Miller in the title role. The character appeared in other DCEU offerings before his movie premiered, most notably in Justice League. The movie reportedly has gone through several rewrites and even recently shot more The Flash footage, and is finally set to release in 2023.
Despite all the delays and controversies, however, it looks like Warner Bros. Is already preparing to move ahead with a sequel to The Flash if the first does well. Tucked away in a report on the status of DC films by The Hollywood Reporter is information on The Flash sequel and who has already penned the screenplay. “A scriptment for Wonder Woman 3 by Patty Jenkins is expected imminently and a script for a Flash sequel is already written — by Aquaman scribe David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick — in case that movie, to be released June 23, 2023, does well," reads THR's report.
The key phrase here is “in case that movie […] does well.” Production problems have caused The Flash's budget to swell to $200 million, which would mean it would need to make its budget back and then likely several hundreds of millions more in order to be financially viable as a project. To put the budget into perspective, Marvel Studios' The Avengers was made on a budget of $220 million and was considered a monster success at $1.519 billion dollars.
Production delays are one thing, but it’s likely that The Flash will be most impacted by Miller's controversies. Over the past year, they have been accused of burglary, disorderly conduct, grooming allegations, and more. This has served to make their popularity wane considerably, and controversy has erupted over Warner Bros. Discovery's decision to stand behind them and instead cancel other projects such as Batgirl.
Perhaps the only way for The Flash to have a saving grace is if it is an absolutely amazing superhero film. If audiences flock to theaters to watch the film, then it may recoup its budget and more. As it stands now, that seems to be a tall order. Ironically enough, the film was reportedly set to adapt the Flashpoint storyline to reset the DCEU. Now, it seems that it’s become the epicentre of what DC Films wanted to move away from.
The Flash is set to hit theaters on June 23, 2023.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter