For a character who is supposed to be incredibly fast, his movie is moving pretty damn slow. DC has been working on a solo Flash movie for years, with Justice League star Ezra Miller long set to play the title role. However, a new report suggests the film is further away than you may think.
Variety reports, and io9 has confirmed, that because of commitments to the Fantastic Beasts franchise, Ezra Miller won’t be available in the window Warner Bros. was considering shooting The Flash in 2019. And so, the film will continue to be developed so Miller can shoot the third Fantastic Beasts in July 2019 and then do The Flash after, possibly near the end of 2019. That would put the film on track for, potentially, a 2021 release.
While previous iterations of The Flash fell apart due to creative issues, this seems to be more an issue of patience. Fantastic Beasts is two films in; the series is in a creative groove, with a core writer, director, and producer. Warner Bros. knows what that franchise is and has committed to five films. The Flash, on the other hand, has been in flux for a while, and any delay will only give directors John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein (who are currently attached to the film) more time to work on it and improve it (After all, there were rumours the whole story changed in recent months). Plus, The Flash has never actually been greenlit. It’s been so long since it first had a release date, that original release date was this year. Everything that’s happened in the past, including this, is just under a microscope because the Flash is such a popular character.
In the past, DC has rushed projects to the big screen and, well, it didn’t work too well, did it? With new bosses now in place, it seems like everyone is being extra careful now with these characters and that’s a good thing. There are so many other DC films in development too that it seems incredibly plausible one of them could be slotted into that 2019 Flash spot.
Fans will likely blow this a little more out of proportion than it deserves—and really, that’s just out of frustration. No matter what people thought of Justice League, Miller’s take on the Flash was almost universally praised, and Daley and Goldstein are two of the most intriguing directors out there. We all just want to see a great Flash movie, and if there is one coming, now it’s just going to come a little later.