Bye bye ‘Barbie’ – new ‘Blue Beetle’ finally dethrones blockbuster

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LOS ANGELES: Warner Bros and DC Studios’ ‘Blue Beetle’ has finally dethroned Warner Bros and Mattel’s ‘Barbie’, ending the bubbly blockbuster’s four-week reign atop the domestic box office.

The Latino-centric superhero movie opened this weekend to US$25.4 million in the United States and Canada, according to estimates from measurement firm Comscore. ‘Barbie’ slipped into second place, grossing US$21.5 million in its fifth frame for a North American cumulative total of US$567.3 million, reported German news agency (dpa).

‘Blue Beetle’ met the low end of early projections, which had ranged from US$25 million to US$32 million. It’s the latest domestic box-office disappointment for DC, which has been struggling to bring in audiences amid cuts, a creative overhaul and a shift in leadership.

‘Blue Beetle’, however, faced an additional challenge previous DC titles have not – a reduced marketing campaign affected by the actors’ strike.

Rounding out the top five this week were Universal Pictures’ ‘Oppenheimer’, which added US$10.6 million in its fifth week for a North American haul of US$285.2 million; Paramount Pictures’ ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem’, which earned US$8.4 million in its third frame for a North American total of US$88.1 million; and Universal’s ‘Strays’ which launched at US$8.3 million, low for a talking-dogs movie though no doubt due in part to an R rating.

Directed by Angel Manuel Soto, ‘Blue Beetle’ stars Xolo Maridueña as a recent college graduate whose life is turned upside down when he suddenly transforms into an alien symbiote. The cast includes Bruna Marquezine, Adriana Barraza, Damían Alcázar, Elpidia Carrillo, Raoul Max Trujillo, Susan Sarandon and George Lopez.

The historic title — DC’s first superhero film with a Latino lead – has fared much better with critics than the studio’s last two box-office failures, ‘The Flash’ and ‘Shazam! Fury of the Gods’. Upon its release, ‘Blue Beetle’ scored a respectable 76 per cent fresh rating on reviews aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes, as well as a B-plus grade from audiences polled by CinemaScore.

‘Blue Beetle’ is a good old-fashioned origin story, a stand-alone film unrestrained by crossovers and cameos,” writes film critic Katie Walsh in The Times’ review.

“As a hard reset for the troubled DCEU, it’s refreshing, despite its adherence to formula. Soto and Dunnet-Alcocer inject the film with a welcome dose of tropical Latin flavour, a new set of values and a fair amount of humour; at times it can be a bit goofy, but that proves to be a powerful antidote to the otherwise dour tone that has bogged down DC movies of late.”

It’s also worth noting that the cast of ‘Blue Beetle’ has been unable to promote the film during the ongoing actors’ strike. That means no late-night or daytime TV appearances, no premiere soundbites, no junket interviews and no social media posts from the stars of the movie in the weeks leading up to its debut.

‘The Flash’ and ‘Shazam 2’ did not experience this setback, though in the former’s case, the exposure of star Ezra Miller was kept to a minimum, due to the actor’s off-screen troubles.

At the Los Angeles premiere of ‘Blue Beetle’, Soto carried a cardboard cutout of Maridueña’s face and called the cast members heroes for “sacrificing this big opportunity” in solidarity with other striking actors.

“I’ll do anything for them,” Soto told De Los.

“I’ll wear their shirts. I’ll represent them wherever. They deserve it. They deserve all the flowers. I wish they were here to see and listen to people respond to their work, to see all the love for the passion that they put into this project. At the same time, I’m so proud of them… for taking a stand for better pay, for a better future. … Their protest is necessary, and they have my full support.”