The Flash and 6 biggest box office bombs of 2023

It was a rough time at the box office for The Flash, The Marvels, and other big budget movies in 2023.

The Flash movie - Credit: Warner Bros.
The Flash movie - Credit: Warner Bros.
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WISH
STARRING ROLE – In Walt Disney Animation Studios’ “Wish,” sharp-witted idealist Asha (voice of Ariana DeBose) makes a wish so powerful, it’s answered by a cosmic force—a little ball of boundless energy called Star. Helmed by Oscar®-winning director Chris Buck and Fawn Veerasunthorn, “Wish” features original songs by Grammy®-nominated singer/songwriter Julia Michaels and Grammy-winning producer, songwriter and musician Benjamin Rice. The epic animated musical opens only in theaters on Nov. 22,

Wish

  • Release Date: Nov. 22, 2023
  • Director: Chris Buck and Fawn Veerasunthorn
  • Cast: Ariana DeBose, Chris Pine, Alan Tudyk, Angelique Cabral, Victor Garber, Natasha Rothwell, Jennifer Kumiyama, Harvey Guillén, Evan Peters, Ramy Youssef, and Jon Rudnitsky
  • Global Box Office: $148 million

Wish premiered in theaters in late November, so it's hard to call the movie a bust at this point, but the writing is on the wall. It's another critics and viewer split for ratings. According to Rotten Tomatoes, most critics didn't like the movie, while it has an 81% audience approval rating. That's a solid score, but it's possible that the discrepancy negatively affected the box office numbers.

Of all seven of the movies on this list, Wish is the one that makes me the most worried about the future of the film industry. This movie has a great creative team behind it, an awesome cast, Disney, and so much more, and it flopped quite hard. There are bound to be misses; that's part of the risk of the film industry. It's just that there are so many movies and shows aimed at kids and families right now, and it's easily accessible on streaming services. If it's not a well-known property like Paw Patrol, it seems like the risk of a miss is going to have ripple effects on animated movies for years to come. I could be wrong, of course, but it just feels like there's been a shift since the pandemic.

Wish is not available to stream on Disney+ yet, but I'd assume it will get a pretty sizable viewership bump as soon as it is available to stream.