Box Office: ‘Blue Beetle’ Stumbles With $25 Million Debut, Ends ‘Barbie’s’ Four-Week Streak

Blue Beetle has dethroned Barbie at the domestic box office. The latest DC superhero adventure claimed the No. 1 spot despite a softer-than-expected debut of $25.4 million.

At the international box office, Blue Beetle, starring Xolo Mariduea as the alien symbiote, added $18 million from 63 markets. With $43 million globally, its one of the softest starts in the history of the DC Cinematic Universe.

After four consecutive weekends in first place, Barbie landed on her feet at second place with $21.5 million from 4,003 theaters, a huge result at this point in its theatrical run. After five weeks of release, Greta Gerwigs fantasy-comedy has generated $567 million and will soon overtake Universals animated The Super Mario Bros. Movie ($574 million) as the biggest domestic release of the year.

Blue Beetle cost more than $100 million to produce and many millions more to promote, so itll need to defy the box office odds to justify its price tag. Reviews and word of mouth may not do much to fill seats; the film has a B+ CinemaScore and 77% on Rotten Tomatoes. In a note to press, Warner Bros. suggested the impact of Tropical Storm Hilary is anticipated to be significant, particularly in Southern California where the film is overindexing.

Its the third DC film in 2023 to tumble out of the gate after Shazam: Fury of the Gods ($30.1 million in March) and The Flash ($55 million in June). Even 2021s The Suicide Squad, which debuted simultaneously in theaters and on HBO Max, enjoyed a bigger start with $26.2 million. But that film as well as Shazam 2 and The Flash, which flopped in their theatrical runs were based on higher-profile characters compared to Blue Beetle.

Directed by ngel Manuel Soto, the film centers on college graduate Jaime Reyes, who gets chosen to become a symbiotic host to an ancient alien biotech relic that turns him into the superhero known as Blue Beetle. A fourth DC adaptation, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, is slated to release in December before the studios new chiefs James Gunn and Peter Safran take the faltering comic book universe in an entirely new direction.

After a dozen nearly flawless years, the [comic book] genre has performed unevenly during the last 3-and-a-half years, says David A. Gross, who runs the movie consulting firm Franchise Entertainment Research. Were going to know more about superheroes in November and December, he adds in reference to Aquaman 2 as well as Disneys sequel The Marvels on Nov. 10. Those two films will determine the state of superheroes in 2023 and going forward.

Universals talking-dog comedy Strays also stumbled in its debut, digging up a paltry $8.3 million from 3,223 theaters for a fifth-place finish. The R-rated movie cost $46 million and could struggle overseas, where funny films tend to have limited appeal. It flopped at the international box office with $1.9 million from 21 territories for a global tally of $10 million.

This is a soft opening, says Gross. Audience ratings are good, with lukewarm reviews from critics.

Theatrical comedies are a rare breed in Hollywood these days, and even with a starry voice cast of Will Ferrell and Jamie Foxx, Strays fared far worse than Jennifer Lawrences raunchy No Hard Feelings ($15 million) and Universals drug-fueled Cocaine Bear ($23 million). It barely beat Bert Kreischers stand-up inspired The Machine, which crumbled with $5 million.

Strays landed behind two holdovers, Christopher Nolans Oppenheimer and Paramounts Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem.

Oppenheimer took third place with $11 million in its fifth weekend of release, bringing ticket sales to $286 million. The R-rated historical drama crossed $700 million at the global box office over the weekend, surpassing 2014s Interstellar ($714 million) to stand as Nolans fourth-highest grossing movie. Its the fourth-biggest release of the year behindThe Super Mario Bros. Movie ($1.35 billion),Barbie ($1.27 billion)andGuardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 ($845 million).

Paramounts Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem landed at the No. 4 spot with $8.4 million from 3,477 venues. After three weekends on the big screen, the animated family comedy has grossed $88.1 million in North America and $30 million internationally. It cost $70 million and will end up as a modest box office performer.

At the specialty box office, Park Chan-Wooks 2003 vengeance thriller Oldboy returned to 250 theaters in honor of its 20th anniversary. The film grossed $880,000 in five days and will cross $1 million in its first week of re-release, an impressive result for a re-release. The top-performing cities were San Francisco, New York City, and Los Angeles at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas, according to Neon.

Elsewhere, Meg 2: The Trench swam past the $300 million mark with worldwide ticket sales at $316.6 million. A majority of those returns are coming from international territories, where the shark sequel has grossed $250 million. The follow-up isnt living up to its predecessor, 2018s The Meg, which earned $145 million in North America and $529 million globally. At the domestic box office especially, The Trench has been shark bait in the wake of Barbie and Oppenheimer.