The old DC Universe is going to get something this weekend they have not had in some time – a positive headline. Unfortunately that is where the good news likely will end for its latest entry, as its long-term prospects put it in the same weeds as many of their recent failures. The news is not much better for the cheaper R-rated comedy that tried to break through this week. Thankfully, the two studios behind these films also still have the two films in theaters that have been grabbing the best headlines of the summer.
Blue Beetle was indeed No. 1 at the box office this weekend. After a $3.3 million start on Thursday, the film appeared to be on pace to reach its high-end projection of $30 million, as both WB’s Shazam!: Fury of the Gods ($30.1 million) and Meg 2: The Trench ($30.0 million) did after previews of $3.4 million and $3.1 million, respectively. Instead it began with $25.4 million, nearly giving a chance for Barbie to steal a fifth weekend at the top. The third weekend of August has never been a time for huge openers; the best this weekend has ever seen was the $38 million start of Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds. So with that in mind, Blue Beetle had the seventh-best opening of the weekend, historically speaking, behind the two other $30+ million starters, Freddy vs. Jason and Superbad, and the $25+ million brought in by The Expendables 2, Crazy Rich Asians, and Tropic Thunder.
Apart from the specific audience for Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero, the films of this weekend to open with over $21 million have gone onto $70 million or higher, including 1995’s Mortal Kombat. Two of the under-$25 million starters (The Butler, The 40 Year-Old Virgin) even went on to gross over $100 million. Warner Bros. and DC would love for that kind of a stretch, but while Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse did make three times their opening weekend, both The Flash and the Shazam! sequel did not even double up on theirs. Even Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania barely got over the 2x threshold. That is not good news for the $120+ million production of Blue Beetle, which, with only another $18 million overseas so far, is looking like another DC flop for the studio.
Full Story via Rotten Tomatoes
