Blue Beetle Dethrones Barbie At The Box Office

Barbie was the top earner during its first four weekends at the box office, but it has finally been dethroned in week five. The Greta Gerwig-directed film added another $21.5 million to its total but came second to Blue Beetle. However, the DC film did not beat Barbie by much. The Angel Manuel Soto-directed movie underperformed this weekend despite positive reviews from critics and audiences alike. In its first weekend, Blue Beetle took in $25 million at the box office after it was originally projected to earn $30 million.

Will Blue Beetle Earn More Than The Flash?

For comparison, The Flash made $55.1 million at the box office on its opening weekend in June. However, it had a huge drop in its second weekend and is now considered one of the biggest comic book movie flops of all time. Blue Beetle may not have had a strong start, but its positive reviews will likely help it top The Flash. Currently, the DC movie has a 76% critics score and a 92% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. ComicBook.com's Kofi Outlaw gave the movie a 3.5 out of 5 five and called it "fun but familiar."  

Will Barbie Beat The Super Mario Bros. Movie To Become 2023's Top-Grossing Film?

Barbie has been breaking box office records left and right, and it managed to earn $1 billion in only 17 days. Currently, its box office total is $1,279,182,865, making it the highest-grossing film directed solely by a woman and Warner Bros.'s highest-grossing movie domestically. However, there is one big milestone Barbie has yet to accomplish, and that's the title of the highest-grossing movie of 2023. Currently, the crown belongs to The Super Mario Bros. Movie, which earned $1,355,156,655.

According to Forbes, the final difference between The Super Mario Bros. Movie and Barbie will only come down to tens of millions "at most." Barbie raised its total to $1.26 billion this weekend which means it still needs to earn a little less than $100 million to dethrone the animated movie. 

What Is Barbie About?

In Barbie, to live in Barbie Land is to be a perfect being in a perfect place. Unless you have a full-on existential crisis. Or you're a Ken. From Oscar-nominated writer/director Greta Gerwig comes Barbie, which hit theaters on July 21st. Barbie stars Oscar-nominees Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling as Barbie and Ken, alongside America Ferrera, Kate McKinnon, Michael Cera, Ariana Greenblatt, Issa Rae, Rhea Perlman, and Will Ferrell. The film also stars Ana Cruz Kayne, Emma Mackey, Hari Nef, Alexandra Shipp, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Simu Liu, Ncuti Gatwa, Scott Evans, Jamie Demetriou, Connor Swindells, Sharon Rooney, Nicola Coughlan, Ritu Arya, Grammy Award-winning singer/songwriter Dua Lipa and Oscar-winner Helen Mirren. Gerwig directed Barbie from a screenplay by Gerwig & Oscar nominee Noah Baumbach, based on Barbie by Mattel. 

What Is Blue Beetle About?

From Warner Bros. Pictures comes Blue Beetle, which arrived in theaters on August 18th, marking the DC superhero's first time on the big screen. The film, directed by Angel Manuel Soto, stars Xolo Maridueña in the title role as well as his alter ego, Jaime Reyes. Recent college grad Jaime Reyes returns home full of aspirations for his future, only to find that home is not quite as he left it. As he searches to find his purpose in the world, fate intervenes when Jaime unexpectedly finds himself in possession of an ancient relic of alien biotechnology: the Scarab. When the Scarab suddenly chooses Jaime to be its symbiotic host, he is bestowed with an incredible suit of armor capable of extraordinary and unpredictable powers, forever changing his destiny as he becomes the Super Hero BLUE BEETLE.

Starring alongside Maridueña are Adriana Barraza, Damían Alcázar, Elpidia Carrillo, Bruna Marquezine, Raoul Max Trujillo, with Oscar winner Susan Sarandon, and George Lopez (the "Rio and "Smurf" franchises). The film also stars Belissa Escobedo and Harvey Guillén. Soto directs from a screenplay by Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer, based on characters from DC. John Rickard and Zev Foreman are producing, with Walter Hamada, Galen Vaisman and Garrett Grant serving as executive producers.

What have you seen in theaters lately? Tell us in the comments!