The Flash: Warner Bros. execs suggest the company manipulated early reviews to be positive

After decades of being in limbo, several difficult years of production, unbalanced filming, and incredibly chaotic post-production, The Flash- 56% it will finally hit theaters in a few days, and fans of the character and of DC still don’t know how to feel about it. Despite the controversies about ezra miller and all the alterations that the final cut suffered due to internal changes in the company, the first critics assured that it was the best superhero film of the year, of the last decade and of DC in general, and although that raised the expectations of the public, it seems that everything was a simple manipulation very common in Hollywood.

Keep reading: The Flash already has critical rating

many before zack snyder opened his DCEU with The Man of Steel – 55%and long before walter hamada opened the doors to different versions of the brand’s heroes, Warner Bros. and DC had been planning a Flash movie for years. At the time, it was proposed that the film pave the way for a trilogy of its own, and although things never progressed very far, each new release from the company, from Superman Returns – 76% until Batman starts – 84%revived the conversation about it.

In those days, there were even many fan forums where they talked about which actor could bring the character to life, since he had never made it to the big screen. In the end, the hero was introduced within the Snyderverse, but in the worst possible context. After a cameo in Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice – 27%Miller definitively appropriated the role in League of Justice – 41%but the cut of Joss Whedon it reduced the speedster to a dowdy comic relief that didn’t add much to the overall plot. A Flash solo tape had already been given the green light, but the process of getting it off the ground was very complicated.

In addition to losing Christopher Miller and Phil Lord already john francis daley and Jonathan Goldstein as directors, on several occasions it was thought that ezra miller it would finally be left out of production to start with someone new, but then a rumor spread that he had written his own script so that the adaptation would not remain in the air. things got better when Andy Muschietti rose to the director’s chair after his success at Warner Bros. with It (That) – 85% and It: Chapter Two – 80% and when it premiered on HBO Max Zack Snyder’s Justice League – 82% that showed a much more interesting facet about Flash that raised expectations for a story of its own.

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But things got out of hand again when ezra miller he began to get into serious trouble with the law for his erratic behavior. Time did not fix this matter, as Miller’s reputation worsened when controversies about child abuse and harassment, manipulation, paranoia, a lot of fights and even death threats that he made to a couple were revealed. The public began to demand that Warner Bros. take action on the matter and there was even talk of replacing Miller, but that never came close to happening because the production company was too invested in the project to let it fail.

It didn’t take long for the tape to be talked about well; first it was said that the first test functions were compared with Batman: The Dark Knight – 94%and then several celebrities such as Stephen King and Tom Cruisethey went out to speak well of Flash to cheer up the crowd. Of course, all this is nothing more than a campaign so that the tape does not fail at the box office, but it is curious that now it is revealed that even the Warner executives themselves do not believe any of this. In an article by The Hollywood Reporter, it is mentioned how advertising was thought in this case. An insider explained that in addition to sending a cut of the film to certain celebrities months before, they were also encouraged to speak well of the film because they knew that it would reach the media and spread on social networks:

It cannot be the study that tells you that it is good; your friends have to tell you that it is good.

While a Warner executive who remained anonymous simply said:

They are spending a lot, a lot. This is a massive campaign.

As of this writing, many other Warner Bros. executives are not happy with the campaign or its being named the best superhero movie, believing that audiences simply won’t be sold on it and that could hurt the film’s numbers during its second run. week on billboard

The thing is, Warner Bros. couldn’t do a traditional campaign with ezra miller doing interviews, as the company is trying to avoid controversy so that the public does not lose focus on the tape as such. In this way, internal campaigns began to improve Miller’s reputation, where James Gunn and other senior managers, including the director of FlashThey speak only good things about working with Miller. Other internal comments ensure that the cost of this type of publicity has already raised the film too much, so the production company is doing everything in its power so that the adaptation does not become an unprecedented flop, especially after they bet for this title, but canceled others from DC.

don’t leave without reading: The Flash: Ezra Miller will attend the premiere, but the press was prohibited from interviewing him