Warner Bros. reportedly considering axing The Flash movie

Warner Bros. is reportedly weighing up three different options for its long-delayed Flash movie – including cancelling it altogether.

The speedster’s solo movie has had a troubled production process, with multiple directors joining and leaving the project since it was originally announced as part of the DC Extended Universe in 2014. Eight years and several behind-the-scenes changes later, the film – which is inspired by the comic book event Flashpoint, in which The Flash travels back through time to save his mother – is locked in for a June 23, 2023 release, with It director Andy Muschietti at the helm.

For the moment, anyway: according to The Hollywood Reporter, Warner Bros. is now considering three different outcomes for the movie, in the wake of fresh charges filed against star Ezra Miller. Earlier this week, the actor was charged with felony burglary for allegedly stealing alcohol from a home in Vermont, and police are now reportedly searching for a missing mother and children who had apparently been staying at Miller’s farm.

Those are only the latest in a string of controversies and arrests involving the actor in recent months, and each one has seemingly added pressure to Warner Bros. to take action on its Flash movie. The Hollywood Reporter has outlined three separate scenarios the studio is said to be weighing up, two of which include a path toward the film still debuting in cinemas next year.

lego

The first (and presumably ideal) course of action is Miller seeking professional help, which is apparently on the table, and then eventually explaining their behaviour in an interview. If all goes according to plan, the actor could then still be involved in press for the movie. The second option is that The Flash still releases as planned, but Miller has little (if any) involvement in its marketing, and they would be recast for future films.

If neither of those strategies is possible, Warner Bros. is apparently still willing to completely cancel the $200 million film. (THR says reshoots would not be possible, as Miller is ‘in almost every scene’ and ‘plays multiple characters’.) It would be unprecedented for the scale of the project, but the studio isn’t alien to axing finished films: earlier this month, Warner Bros. Discovery’s new CEO David Zaslav tabled the $90 million HBO Max movie Batgirl for good.

Should The Flash never arrive in cinemas, the fate of its rumoured LEGO set – so far, the only LEGO DC product said to be in the works for 2023 – would hang in the balance. The LEGO Group and Warner Bros. could choose to release it anyway, hoping the characters alone are enough to entice consumers, or it could shelve absolutely everything to do with the project.

For now, The Flash is still on course for a June 23, 2023 premiere.

Support the work that Brick Fanatics does by purchasing your LEGO using our affiliate links.

Author Profile

Chris Wharfe
I like to think of myself as a journalist first, LEGO fan second, but we all know that’s not really the case. Journalism does run through my veins, though, like some kind of weird literary blood – the sort that will no doubt one day lead to a stress-induced heart malfunction. It’s like smoking, only worse. Thankfully, I get to write about LEGO until then.

Chris Wharfe

I like to think of myself as a journalist first, LEGO fan second, but we all know that’s not really the case. Journalism does run through my veins, though, like some kind of weird literary blood – the sort that will no doubt one day lead to a stress-induced heart malfunction. It’s like smoking, only worse. Thankfully, I get to write about LEGO until then.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *