Are big studios now trying to use “gaslighting” to help explain bad films? A few weeks ago Sony CEO Tony Vinciquerra tried to blame the failure of films like Madam Web and Kraven on the critics being too harsh. He stepped down from the company shortly after. Now the director of the poorly received The Flash flim, Andy Muschietti, is trying to spin why his movie flopped.

“Apart from all the others reasons, it wasn’t a movie that appealed to the 4-quadrants. It failed at that. When you spend $200 million making a movie, Warner wants to bring even your grandmother to the theaters. And I found out in private conversations that a lot of people just don’t care about The Flash as a character. Particularly the two female quadrants. All that is wind going against the movie that I learned about.”

*the four quadrants are: men over 25, men under 25, women over 25, and women under 25, so everyone.

That seems like a legitimate excuse until you remember that the most popular series on the CW for years was The Flash and the CW is a series that skews towards female audience. I mean there was a reason why Stephen Amell on Arrow was doing the salmon ladder all the time and it wasn’t about character growth. It’s more likely that the film bombed because of Ezra Miller, a troubled star making a lot of negative press as well as it being attached to a universe that it was obviously on the way out.

But, hey, whatever helps you sleep at night.