Warner Bros. has been trying to get a Flash movie off the ground for a long time now. The project has suffered several director changes and delays, the latest of which had the film arriving in theaters by 2021. However, that has all been brought into question as Fantastic Beast 3 has just delayed filming, creating a conflict for star Ezra Miller. The Flash will either have to be fast-tracked or delayed once again.
Originally, the still-untitled Fantastic Beasts 3 was to start production in July of this year with a release in 2020. However, Warner Bros. is reportedly taking a new approach with its event films and giving them enough time to develop, rather than rushing pre-production to make a release date. That means that Fantastic Beast 3 was having production pushed back to autumn to give the movie more time to prep.
Considering the mixed-to-negative reactions to Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, this is a good idea! There was no report on if this would ultimately affect Fantastic Beasts 3's release date, but it's possible that it could get pushed back to 2021. What's equally unclear is how all of this affects The Flash.
Ezra Miller is juggling two commitments to Warner Bros. The actor stars as Barry Allen and Credence Barebone in The Flash and Fantastic Beasts franchise, respectively. The last plan for The Flash was that it would get in front of cameras this spring, but the film was delayed because work was still being done on the script.
The delay was also to give Ezra Miller time to film Fantastic Beasts 3, which at this point was still going to film in the summer. So, The Flash was expected to begin rolling in late 2019.
However, as pointed out by Collider, this is when Fantastic Beasts 3 is now filming, so what does this mean for The Flash? The most obvious answer is that the superhero blockbuster will be pushed back once again. Even assuming that it starts filming in early 2020, it could still potentially arrive in late 2021.
The unlikely option is that the film will be fast-tracked to take Fantastic Beasts 3's summer production spot. Seeing as how Warner is looking to prevent doing that for these movies, that might be a counterproductive idea.
The Flash is just one of those movies that can't seem to catch a break. Overall, I think it's a good thing to give the movie as much time to get itself straight as possible, especially after the success of Aquaman. But, at some point, they have to pull the trigger on this thing and get it to the theater.
Warner Bros. has yet to give an update on how this impacts The Flash, but stick with CinemaBlend and we'll keep you updated with new information as soon as it becomes available.
