'The Flash' and 'Elemental' flash warning signs for the summer box office

Watching the coming attraction for "Blue Beetle," the next movie adaptation of a DC comic, a thought emerged almost reflexively: "There's one to stream."

After a weekend that saw a twin bloodbath in terms of major film releases that fell well short of box-office expectations, "The Flash" and "Elemental," it's difficult to overstate how corrosive that mentality has become for the theatrical business - fueled, admittedly, by a wide variety of factors, but with the shift toward streaming having clearly contributed to the problem.

"Elemental," Disney's latest Pixar movie to hit theaters after several of its brethren went directly to streaming, and "The Flash," a superhero from the DC/Warner Bros. stable (like CNN, units of Warner Bros. Discovery), earned roughly $30 million and $55 million during their opening weekends, respectively, evoking descriptions like "flop" and "disappointing" - despite mostly positive reaction from moviegoers who did see the films.

Given the high costs associated with producing and marketing those films, each studio faces the prospect of sizable financial losses, although these projects will continue to provide revenue down the pipeline in harder-to-measure ways, including, yes, the value they bring to the studios' respective streaming services.

For theater owners, there's small consolation in that. And for Hollywood talent - beginning with the Writers Guild of America, which is well into the second month of a strike against the major studios and streamers - the lack of transparency about streaming revenue and how it's calculated has represented a major sticking point in those contract negotiations.

As the Los Angeles Times reported, writers have taken to calling this "the Netflix strike," a reference to the way streaming - as exemplified by the streaming giant and emulation of its practices - has upended the existing business model and clouded the future.

Whether that's an entirely fair assessment, what seems clear is the one-two punch dealt to movies going by the push toward streaming in 2019, and the pandemic that began the following year, has shifted consumer habits, despite some encouraging signs of a rebound. For every "Top Gun: Maverick," "Avatar: The Way of Water" or "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse," there appear to be two or three high-profile titles that look destined to leave their corporate parent awash in red ink.