The Big Picture
- Blue Beetle debuted at number one, toppling Barbie from the top spot at the domestic box office after a month.
- Blue Beetle‘s box office debut puts it behind both Birds of Prey and Shazam! Fury of the Gods’ opening numbers.
- Fellow new release Strays finds itself in a close race with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem for the fourth spot.
It’s a one-two finish for Warner Bros. this weekend. The new superhero film Blue Beetle will probably go down as a fun trivia topic in the future; as it’ll probably always be remembered as the movie that toppled the blockbuster Barbie from the top spot at the domestic box office after a month. While Blue Beetle didn’t exactly set the cash registers ringing in its first weekend, it performed well enough to send Barbie to the number two spot.
Blue Beetle, which finds itself in the unenviable position of being neither directly tied to the old DC Extended Universe nor explicitly connected to the upcoming rebooted version of the series, could manage only an estimated $26 million in its opening weekend, after grossing $10 million on Friday. This puts it behind both Birds of Prey and Shazam! Fury of the Gods — two movies that are widely considered to have underperformed at the box office. The film’s budget is also in the same range as those two DCEU titles.
However, it’s clear by now that the average moviegoer is no longer interested in watching more installments of a franchise that has publicly been put in the rearview mirror. This doesn’t bode too well for December’s Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, which is ostensibly the final film of the old DCEU era. Under the supervision of James Gunn and Peter Safran, the DCEU will be relaunched in 2025 with Superman: Legacy.
Barbie settled for the number two spot in its fifth weekend, after adding an estimated $21 million. This takes the film’s running domestic total to a staggering $566 million. Barbie has generated over $1.2 billion globally, which means that it is on the cusp of overtaking The Super Mario Bros. Movie both stateside and worldwide to become the year’s biggest movie. Directed by Greta Gerwig, Barbie debuted alongside Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer last month, in what has come to be known as the “Barbenheimer” event — a hugely hyped double-bill that has collectively generated nearly $2 billion worldwide.
Both New Releases Underperformed in Their Debut Weekends
Oppenheimer took the third spot, after adding $11 million this weekend. The film is on the verge of passing the $300 million mark domestically, and in the next few days, should overtake the lifetime domestic total of Nolan’s Inception ($293 million). Like Blue Beetle, Oppenheimer will also likely become a favorite trivia title, after having earned the distinction of becoming the biggest movie in history to have never topped the box office in its entire run. The film passed the $700 million mark worldwide on Saturday, and will finish Sunday with around $718 million globally.
The fourth and fifth spots went to the new R-rated comedy Strays and Paramount’s holdover animated title Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem. While Strays could only manage $8.5 million in its first weekend — very low for a movie that reportedly cost over $45 million to produce — Mutant Mayhem is also expected to earn a similar figure in its third weekend, which will take its running domestic total to just under $90 million. The movie could actually outperform Strays once the actual reports come in tomorrow. You can watch our interview with Blue Beetle director Ángel Manuel Soto here and stay tuned to Collider for more updates.
