Blue Beetle Has DC's Smallest Box Office Debut Since Wonder Woman 1984

Blue Beetle made $25 million at the box office this weekend.

By Jamie Jirak

Blue Beetle is the first movie to dethrone Barbie at the box office. The Greta Gerwig-directed film is no longer the number one movie in its fifth weekend thanks to the DC film. However, Blue Beetle still underperformed this weekend. Despite positive reviews from critics and audiences alike, Blue Beetle only scored $25 million at the box office in its first weekend. Originally, the film was projected to earn $30 million. This marks the smallest opening for a DC film since Wonder Woman 1984 was released in 2020. 

The Wonder Woman sequel only earned $16.7 million at the box office during its opening weekend due to the pandemic. The film simultaneously debuted on HBO Max. The previous DC release, 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 Angel Manuel Soto-directed 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."  

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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.

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