Warner Bros. Says Tropical Storm Hilary Had "Significant" Impact on Blue Beetle Box Office

As Blue Beetle attempts to weather DC's lowest opening weekend since 2020 at the box office, Warner Bros. said it anticipated Tropical Storm Hilary to have a "significant" impact on the film's release in the Los Angeles market. The first tropical storm to hit Southern California in 84 years, Hilary broke "virtually all rainfall daily records" for the area, according to the National Weather Service's Los Angeles office. LA, the No. 1 market for Blue Beetle, was hit by rain, flooding, mudslides, and rock slides over the weekend, just as the first DC superhero movie with a Latino lead (Xolo Maridueña's Jaime Reyes) hit theaters.

"The storm's impact is anticipated to be significant, particularly in Southern California where the film is over‐indexing," Warner Bros. said in a statement to Exhibitor Relations Co. According to the box office tracker, the top 10 Blue Beetle markets are, in order, Los Angeles, New York, Dallas, San Francisco, Houston, Chicago, Phoenix, Atlanta, D.C., and Philadelphia.

The studio confirmed Blue Beetle took in $25 million (including a franchise-worst $3.3 million in Thursday previews) from its August 18th opening weekend, which was enough to unseat Warner Bros.' own Barbie from the No. 1 spot in its fifth week in theaters. That's the lowest for the DC Extended Universe since Wonder Woman 1984 — which had a simultaneous release on HBO Max and opened when 60% of North American theaters were shuttered amid the pandemic — lassoed a $16.7 million domestic debut in 2020. 

That number is just below the opening of James Gunn's R-rated The Suicide Squad ($26.2 million), which also debuted on HBO Max the same day it opened in theaters in 2021, and below this year's Shazam! Fury of the Gods ($30.1 million), which bombed at the box office with a global total of just $131.2 million. Blue Beetle's underperformance comes months after The Flash flopped in June, ending its box office run with $268 million worldwide.

Despite being better reviewed than Flash (64%) and Shazam 2 (49%) at 77% "certified fresh" on Rotten Tomatoes, Blue Beetle earned a "B+" grade from opening-night moviegoers polled by CinemaScore. That's on par with Wonder Woman 1984, Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey, 2016's Suicide Squad, The Suicide Squad, 2017's Justice League, Black Adam, and Shazam 2; Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice and Flash received "B" grades, while Man of Steel and Aquaman were graded "A-." 2017's Wonder Woman and 2019's Shazam! are the only DCEU films to receive an "A" grade from audiences. 

Blue Beetle is now playing exclusively in theaters and is included in the titles offering $4 movie tickets for National Cinema Day on August 27th.