‘Blue Beetle’ Dethrones ‘Barbie’ At The Box Office But Opens Below Expectations

As expected, Blue Beetle was able to claim the top spot from Barbie after four weeks of release but the latest DCU release, despite solid reviews, opened below expectations and below tracking.

Per Deadline, Blue Beetle opened to $25 million over the weekend, below the $30 million the film was tracking ahead of its launch. There are different ways to look at this result. The film was originally intended for a streaming release on HBO Max, now Max, so this weekend originally didn’t have a release on the schedule. Exhibition is $25 million richer as a result and that should be celebrated as a win for movie theaters.

While it’s a win for theater owners, this isn’t exactly a great start for Warner Bros. or DC Studios. The movie appears to be frontloaded with $10 million grossed on Friday and $8.5 million taken in on Saturday, representing a 15 percent decrease in what should be a busier day at the box office. Los Angeles was reportedly the biggest market for Blue Beetle and it can be argued that business was affected by the weather and Hurricane Hilary in the city on Sunday. Would the needle have moved more without it? Tough to say.

The film didn’t have the benefit of its ensemble cast being able to promote the film due to the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike and many trades are hinting that studios are seeing some box office dollars being left on the table due to this. Then there is the issue of the “B+” CinemaScore. It’s not a BAD score per se but it is on the lower end of the results for a comic book movie release. Looking at a breakdown of the grade, The under-18 crowd gave the film an “A” which means it did play better with the younger demographic. 38 percent of the total audience was also Latino and they rated the film a high 90 percent. The second largest demo, which was 27 percent Caucasian, gave the film an overall 75 percent. Some are saying there is a disconnect between the film’s cultural references and other audience members but that is bound to be debated as insiders look into why this film didn’t take off.

Blue Beetle also didn’t do great business overseas with an $18 million start from 63 foreign markets. The upside is that there are 12 more markets yet to open so it can still make up some ground but with a global debut of $43.4 million on a reported $104 million budget, Blue Beetle has a lot of work to do.

Falling to second is Barbie with a gross of $21 million, down just 37.8 percent from the previous weekend. By end of day Sunday, the film sat with a domestic figure of $566.8 million and it’s on its way to dethroning The Super Mario Bros. Movie ($574.2 million) to become the biggest domestic earner of 2023. Overseas, Barbie added an additional $26.7 million to its grosses in 75 markets and how now brought its global haul to a massive $1.279 billion.

In third we find Oppenheimer with a gross of $10.7 million. That’s a decline of 43 percent from last weekend as the historical epic brings its domestic total to $285.3 million. Oppenheimer also continues to shine overseas with a global take that stands at $718.8 million, making it the fourth highest-grossing Christopher Nolan film ever worldwide, overtaking Interstellar.

Dropping to fourth place is Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem with a gross of $8.5 million, down 44.1 percent from the previous weekend. Look, this film already has a sequel and series that is on the way so it’s in a good place right now in terms of maintaining the brand. To date, the film has grossed $88.2 million at the domestic box office and $118.5 million worldwide on a $70 million budget.

Rounding out the top five is Strays with a gross of $8.2 million. That’s below the range the film was tracking ahead of the weekend which had the film debuting somewhere in the teens. Reviews were mixed and there is no doubt that the R-rated raunchy comedy about foul-mouthed dogs could’ve benefitted from its voice cast, which included Will Ferrell, Jamie Foxx, and Isla Fisher, being able to promote the project. I can see this one being directly hit by the SAG-AFTRA strike prohibiting actors from promoting struck work and now it seems like it’s destined for some kind of cult status down the road.

What are your thoughts on this week’s box office results? Check back next week when Gran Turismo enters the marketplace as the lone wide release to close off August and the summer box office.