After years of delays, The Flash finally bolts into theaters this weekend, alongside Pixar’s newest animated endeavor, Elemental, and horror/comedy The Blackening. 

Opening to 4,234 theaters upon its debut, Barry Allen was able to scoop up $24.5 million, including around $9 million on its Thursday pre-shows. With that gross, it’s on the path to winning the weekend domestic box office, but it is still shooting to underperform compared to what was expected. Its premier numbers put it into the same category as Aquaman and Black Adam. Both opened to $67 million, while Aquaman went on to do better than The Rock’s comic book flick through its holiday release.

While the film itself seemed to use the nostalgic appearances to its advantage, the film’s star caused some trouble for the film. Leading role Ezra Miller appeared in a multitude of headlines regarding legal issues and rocky allegations, which some speculated would hurt the movie in the long run.

While The Flash is making a name for itself despite the issues, Elemental is not so lucky. After opening to around 4,000 theaters this weekend, its estimated gross for the weekend is $30 million. That puts it at the lowest 3-day opening in the history of Pixar, taking it away from the previous holders, Onward and The Good Dinosaur, which opened to a mere $39 million. As far as animation goes, it doesn’t stand much of a chance to outperform Across The Spider-Verse as it settles into its third weekend in circulation. Spidey’s newest outing only saw a 51% drop and has already become the third-highest-grossing US release of 2023.

Lionsgate’s The Blackening saw a much smaller release in comparison. It opened to only 1,775 theaters, earning a $2.55 million opening day gross, on a mere budget of just $5 million.

Based on this news, there could be a shocking turn in box office history for all three studios.