The Flash disappointed in its first weekend, opening to a $55.1 million domestic three-day gross, well under Warners’ $70-$75 million expectations, according to Deadline. The decision to keep star Ezra Miller, who’s had a tough year (see "Ezra Miller Pleads Guilty"), off the press circuit and the second tier character were likely factors depressing the gross. Weekend grosses for other geek films included $$29.5 million for the first weekend of Pixar’s Elementals, $27.8 million for the third weekend of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, and $20 million for the second weekend of Transformers: Rise of the Beast.
Disney has been busy shuffling its slate of future releases across multiple studios, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Beginning with Marvel Studios, the recently renamed Captain America: Brave New World moved from May 3, 2024 to July 26, 2024 (see "Best in Shows -- 2024"). This created a domino effect for multiple releases: Thunderbolts moved to December 20, 2024; Blade moved to February 14, 2025; and Fantastic Four moved to May 2, 2025. The two new Avengers movies were also pushed back: Avengers: The Kang Dynasty moved from May 2, 2025, to May 1, 2026, and Avengers: Secret Wars went from May 1, 2026 to May 7, 2027 (see "Best in Shows -- 2027").
Lucasfilm's Star Wars slate was also changed, as Disney added a new untitled Star Wars film set to premiere on December 18, 2026 (see "Best in Shows -- 2026"). They also moved another untitled Star Wars film from December 18, 2025 to May 22, 2026.
Disney also added a date for the live action Moana movie (see "Live Action Films"), which will now release on June 27, 2025, and a release date for a new Alien movie, produced by Ridley Scott and directed by Fede Alvarez, that opens on August 14, 2024. Finally, the future Avatar films (see "'Avatar' Opens Big") all got delayed: Avatar 3 releases December 19, 2025, Avatar 4 moves to December 21, 2029, and Avatar 5 heads off to December 19, 2031.
Netflix has released a teaser (below) for its upcoming live action One Piece adaptation, the first time a One Piece story has been told with live action. One Piece is created in partnership with Japanese publisher Shueisha and exec produced by manga creator Eiichiro Oda. It stars Inaki Godoy as Luffy, Mackenyu as Roronoa Zoro, Emily Rudd as Nami, Jacob Romero Gibson as Usopp and Taz Skylar as Sanji. It will drop on Netflix on August 31.
Netflix also released trailers for The Archies, a teaser and costume pics for Avatar: The Last Airbender, and clips from The Witcher Season 3 and Heartstopper Season 2, all embedded below.
Warner Bros. has released the trailer (below) for Babylon 5: The Road Home, the new animated feature written and exec produced by creator J. Michael Straczynski (see "’Babylon 5’ Feature Set"). The film will be released digitally and on 4K Ultra HD and Blu-Ray on August 15.
Selena Gomez and Jordan Peele will adapt Coyotes into a series, according to filmupdates.net. Coyotes is based on a comic book released by Image Comics in 2017. It details the story of Red, a teen assassin that battles Southwestern werewolves with a sword.
The CW has cancelled Gotham Knights, and renewed Superman & Lois, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Gotham Knights lasted only a single season before getting the axe (see "'Gotham Knights'"). Superman & Lois was the second most watched show on The CW in 2022 to 2023, so it will see a 10-episode Season 4, but with several of the supporting characters not returning.
For more information on geek movie releases, check out ICv2's Best in Shows Geek Movie Calendar. Currently, our calendars show releases running through 2027.
Geek Showbiz Round Up
Posted by Milton Griepp on June 19, 2023 @ 3:31 am CT
Meet Aang, Katara, Sokka and Zuko in Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender, coming 2024. #TUDUM pic.twitter.com/b7TKxo9pKC
— Netflix (@netflix) June 17, 2023