The Flash's Disappointing Box Office Stirs Devastating Consequences for Promised DC Blockbuster

The success or failure of The Flash held significant weight, not only in justifying a reboot, but also in potentially paving the way for a Batman Beyond movie featuring Michael Keaton's Batman. Keaton's portrayal of Batman had promising prospects following The Flash under the previous Warner Bros. regime. However, with the merger of Warner Bros. and Discovery, those prospects, along with several others, were abruptly cut short. Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav's leadership resulted in the cancellation of the Batgirl movie, which would have included Keaton's Batman, and other planned Batman appearances were subsequently scrapped. The future of Batman Beyond remains uncertain, with conflicting reports from various sources.

Following the Discovery merger in December 2022, there were reports that Batman Beyond was put on hold indefinitely. However, during the Fatman Beyond podcast, Kevin Smith shared an encounter where he met Michael Uslan's son at The Flash premiere. It was during this conversation that Smith learned about the possibility of Batman Beyond being dependent on The Flash's success at the box office during its opening weekend. Michael Uslan, the film producer who acquired the rights to Batman, has been credited in every Batman movie since 1989. According to Uslan's son, his father was not present at The Flash premiere because he was focused on monitoring the real-time gross numbers of the film. The plan was for Warner Bros.Discovery to give the green light to Batman Beyond if The Flash achieved similar box office numbers to The Batman on its opening weekend.

However, the next day, Uslan refuted these rumors on Instagram, stating that the story was completely inaccurate. It is more likely that Warner Bros.Discovery was indeed considering a live-action Batman Beyond, but due to The Flash's disappointing performance at the box office, especially in comparison to The Batman, Uslan had to retract his previous statements that should not have been made public.

The success of The Flash in theaters could potentially pave the way for a revival of Batman Beyond, with the character of Keaton's Batman being underutilized since its creation. With the introduction of the DC multiverse and the ability for different timelines and versions to co-exist within the DC canon on film, now would be an opportune moment for Warner Bros. to reconsider producing a Batman Beyond movie with Keaton, ideally directed by Tim Burton. The financial success of The Flash would greatly increase the likelihood of this happening in the future.

Source: Fatman Beyond, Michael Uslan/Instagram