Andy Muschietti has defended The Flash, saying people like "to jump on bandwagons" and hate films they have not seen.

The DC superhero flick disappointed both critically and commercially when it hit cinemas in 2023 - bringing in only $271 million at the box office against a budget of $200 million - and Muschietti has now hit back at the haters.

Speaking with The Playlist, the 52-year-old filmmaker said: "A lot of people did not see it. But you know how things are these days - people don't see things, but they like to talk s*** about it, and they like to jump on bandwagons.

"They don't really know. People are angry for reasons that are unrelated to these things."

The Flash was hamstrung by the controversies surrounding its leading star Ezra Miller, 33, who was caught on video appearing to choke a woman at a bar in Reykjavik, Iceland in April 2020.

Then, in March 2022, Miller - who uses they/them pronouns - was arrested in Hawaii for disorderly conduct and harassment at a karaoke bar, before being arrested again a month later for second-degree assault.

Muschietti admitted the controversies of Miller's off-screen behaviour negatively affected The Flash's reception.

He said: "Of course, we had a publicity crisis with Ezra that is undeniable. And I'm not questioning that. But yeah, we love the movie. And actually, we really recommend it."

Despite The Flash's disappointing commercial and critical performance, Muschietti insisted the movie had not impacted his confidence as a filmmaker.

He explained: "We just moved on and understood that sometimes there's a headwind and a project that you dedicated a lot of work to.

"And we're very proud of it. I think it's a good movie."

The IT director added he was thankful that Warner Bros. stood behind the blockbuster, despite its off-screen challenges.

He said: "This may seem immaterial now, but we also had so much support from the studio, really, at a point where they could have been like, you know, backing out because of all the issues we were having with publicity. And they went all in, and we all went all in.

"And again, we love the movie. We, you know, we gave it our blood, sweat, and tears all the way to the end. And I watched it, like a week ago, and loved it again."

The Flash follows the titular hero (Miller) as he finds himself stuck in an alternate reality in which General Zod (Michael Shannon) arrives to destroy Earth, leaving the speedster to team up with Tim Burton's Batman (Michael Keaton) and Supergirl (Sasha Calle) to stop him.

While The Flash proved to be a financial disaster, Muschietti is set to return to the DC Universe for the Batman movie The Brave and the Bold.