• by Wayne Friedman , June 18, 2023

Despite massive national TV spend for Warner Bros.' “The Flash” and Walt Disney’s “Elemental,” both movies underwhelmed at the box office.

The former posted $55.1 million at the box office, while the latter took in $29.5 million for the recent three-day weekend, according to Comscore.

Warner Bros. spent $25 million on national TV paid advertising for "The Flash," pulling in 1.4 billion impressions from 2,130 airings, according to EDO Ad EnGage estimates.

Walt Disney spent $20 million in paid TV advertising for "Elemental," earning a total of 3.5 billion impressions from 5,340 airings.

Both films are at the top end of the national TV spend range for a theatrical movie opening. 

Disney's Elemental three-day weekend total of just under $30 million was the lowest wide weekend debut ever for a Pixar title outside of “Toy Story,” which debuted in 1995.

Year-to-date, estimated U.S. national TV advertising spend for all theatrical movies is at $617.9 million -- up 26% vs. the same period a year ago.

The biggest movie-studio spenders so far this year are Universal Pictures at $121.1 million, followed by Walt Disney Studios at $106 million; Warner Bros. Pictures, $104.7 million; Sony Pictures, $71.2 million; and Paramount Pictures at $66.1 million.

One of the major new growth brands this year is Amazon Studios, coming in at $29.5 million. 

Movie analysts are buoyed by the commitment from Amazon, as well as Apple, to spend heavily on new theatrical production and marketing -- both estimated to be around $1 billion each per year for a full schedule of films.

Universal's “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” is the biggest individual national TV movie spender so far this year -- $31 million; Warner Bros. “Magic Mike's Last Dance”, $27.5 million; and Walt Disney's “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania”, $26.3 million.>