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.
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.
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.
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