Ryujin
Legend
Because it was released at a time that sufficient people still were not going to theatres.
NEWS; Gunning down the Snyderverse UPDATE Cavill gets the Kryptonite handshake!
Mercurius
Legend
At this point I think the best approach is to just start over again, and reboot the whole DC universe. I mean, quite frankly, the DC movies--as a whole--are a mess. There are some good ones, but the whole thing feels fragmented and uneven, and a far cry from the Golden Age of the MCU (phases 1-3, ignoring 4).
The downside of rebooting is that you lose what made the DCEU good: namely, Henry Cavill and Gal Gadot. But as sad as that would be, I think the benefits outweigh the price (not to mention having another excuse to show Ezra Miller the door). So imagine starting afresh, with Clark Kent learning he's Superman, with Bruce Wayne beginning to fight crime, with a very young Flash appealing to the younger views (ala Tom Holland).
They've got movies slated for 2023 and presumably 2024, but if I'm Warner Bros, I'd take a hard look at rebooting in 2025 or so.
The downside of rebooting is that you lose what made the DCEU good: namely, Henry Cavill and Gal Gadot. But as sad as that would be, I think the benefits outweigh the price (not to mention having another excuse to show Ezra Miller the door). So imagine starting afresh, with Clark Kent learning he's Superman, with Bruce Wayne beginning to fight crime, with a very young Flash appealing to the younger views (ala Tom Holland).
They've got movies slated for 2023 and presumably 2024, but if I'm Warner Bros, I'd take a hard look at rebooting in 2025 or so.
GreyLord
Legend
And yet Shang-Chi made 3x that amount. Close release date to it as well. In fact, TSS was still in theaters at the time.
Black Widow released earlier and with streaming being seen as cutting it's profits made 379 million.
The excues that it was released at a time that sufficient people were not at the theaters might work if other movies in the same genre didn't blow it away in how much was made.
Eternals which is seen by some as one of the lesser Superhero movies released (more I think of seeing it as boring than other things) made 400 million.
Sure, they all could have made more money, but saying TSS flopped because there weren't enough people willing to go to the theater is kind of incorrect.
It flopped because there weren't enough people willing to go WATCH TSS in the theater. That goes for any movie that flops.
And remember, TSS made less money (even if slightly) than Wonder Woman 84. They just cancelled WW84 but gave the reins to the entire DCU to the guy who made a movie that did worse than it in gross.
One could make an argument that this is discrimination in some ways if we look at it purely from a monetary viewpoint (there are other factors at play here beyond how much the movies made, but from the money viewpoint, it could very well appear to be discrimination against the Woman directors, something that actually goes in line with the claim against Gunn that got him fired [though rehired later] from GoG3 earlier). It's not a good look for him in some ways.
Hopefully good things come out from his tenure, but right now he is having a ton of bad PR which they probably should turn around if they want to at least start on a good footing.
I'll go a step further: reboot, and forget about the "universe".
Mercurius
Legend
Despite some flaws, I liked Man of Steel. And I actually think Batman v. Superman is overly maligned - I thought the first two-thirds or so was pretty good, with some nice elements (e.g. I loved the "Superman dystopia" dream sequence). The theatrical JL was a horrible movie, but the Snyder cut was, at least, better, if still not great and now overly bloated.
But more to your point, they were, at least, memorable - especially the first two. I can't say as much for the other DCEU movies I've seen. Oh wait, WW1 was good, but WW84 was terrible. Aquaman was completely forgettable and for me, SS was one and done. Haven't seen Shazam or Black Adam, and probably never will (though I've heard people like Shazam).
Yeah if the top 2 DC movies so far are probably WW and Shazam. WW had the more grandiose move and is probably the more rel regarded, I would argue Shazam is in some ways the best made, its just a solid movie that provides a great entertainment with no real flaws, it just gets the job done.
Ryujin
Legend
"Shazam" was quite good. Just saw "Black Adam" a couple of days ago and wasn't exactly wowed by it. I guess it's most notable for showing The Justice Society of America.
AnotherGuy
Hero
This was one of the more frustrating films I watched in that they had a good concept with as you say some nice elements and I absolutely loved the superhero exchanges between the 3 but the rest of the film around them (I felt), crumbled. Frustrating in that I really loved certain parts and completely disliked others. Anyways.
