After spending so long in development hell,The Flashreally came and went in 2023, huh? Warner Bros. sure put a lot of effort into making sure people knew it was coming, but audiences ultimately bounced off it pretty hard amid a year of superhero movies fizzling in theaters. To director Andy Muschietti, the films biggest failing was that it didnt fully find its audience. In a translated interview with Argentinian outlet Radio TU, he said it wasnt a proper 4-quadrant movie: one that appealed to male and female demographics both over and under the age of 25 years old. When you spend $200 million making a movie, Warner wants to bring even your grandmother to theaters, and The Flash failed at that, he explained. And while he acknowledged other factors couldve played a hand in thngs, like a case of superhero fatigue that year and the troubling allegations surrounding lead actor Ezra Miller at the time, he felt not a lot of audiences care about the Scarlet Speedster, particularly two female quadrants, backed up by box office reports at the time revealing its demographic split leaned heavily towards men. Everyone had their own individual reasons for avoiding The Flash,be it everything surrounding Miller or just thinking it didnt look like appointment viewing. The bit about folks not caring about Flash iswell, the CWs long-running show (which wrapped weeks before the movie hit) partially puts that to bed. What Muschietti likely means is that audiences didnt care about the DCEU version, which is also a problem with the movies. Millers take on Barry Allen got some cool action bits, but there wasnt really anything to make people care about him like they did (and still do) with that universes other collection of characters, or would-be heroes like Green Lantern.The Flashs cinematic future is currently up in the air right now, ditto any DC character not in Supermanor MuschiettisBrave & the Bold. But if and when the speedster comes back, maybe make a version of him people like that isnt just mostly cribbed from Tom Hollands Spider-Man?[via Flash Legacy Brasil] Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, whats next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.