'The Flash' dashes to box office win but stumbles short of estimates

WASHINGTON

Warner Bros.' "The Flash" sprinted to the top of North American box offices in its opening weekend, in a Friday-to-Sunday run dominated by spin-offs and sequels.

But the live-action take on the DC Comics superhero only brought in $55.1 million, according to figures released Sunday by Exhibitor Relations - earnings that analysts said were "far below estimates" for its debut.

Ezra Miller stars as the speedy protagonist, joined by other DC characters including Supergirl and Batman. It dethroned the latest "Transformers" installment, from Paramount, which was last weekend's top earner.

Notching the number two spot this weekend was "Elemental," an animated immigrant fable from Pixar, which earned $29.5 million in what was also its opening weekend.

Pixar's first totally original new film to hit theaters since the start of the pandemic is set in the fantastical Element City, where residents made out of fire, water, earth and air must learn to live in close proximity, despite their highly combustible differences.

Out of the top five highest-earning films this weekend, the rest were rounded out by movies with characters already familiar to generations of audiences.

Sony's "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse" picked up $27.8 million, bringing its cumulative domestic total to more than $280 million so far, with an additional $209 million internationally.

The film, a sequel to 2018's "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse" and the latest spin on the Marvel Comics superhero, picks up the story of half-Black, half-Latino Miles Morales, using an eye-popping blend of decades-old 2D comic book drawing techniques with the latest computer-generated visual effects.

Dropping to fourth place was "Transformers: Rise of the Beasts," which earned $20 million, part of a $103.6 million haul so far.

Disney's "The Little Mermaid," a live-action remake of its 1989 animated tale of an underwater princess who gives up her voice in pursuit of true love, brought in $11.6 million. It has now earned some $253.5 million.

Rounding out the top 10 were "The Blackening" ($6 million), "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" ($5 million), "The Boogeyman" ($3.8 million), "Fast X" ($1.6 million) and "Asteroid City" (limited release, $790,000).