Summary

Blue Beetle’s box office performance has been disappointing, adding to the string of underperforming DC movies. Despite positive reviews and praise for its diversity, the movie’s low box office numbers raise questions about its viability. The decision to save Blue Beetle while scrapping Batgirl may not have been financially wise, as the latter movie was reportedly deemed “not releasable.”

Blue Beetle is the penultimate movie in the old DCEU franchise, and will finally bring Barbie’s box office run as the #1 movie of the last month to an end. However, it is not all celebrations for the latest addition to the DC cinematic universe, as following the theatrical disappointments of the likes of Black Adam and The Flash, Blue Beetle is also underperforming against original projections. The main issue is that the projections for the movie were not that high in the first place, meaning that the film will likely produce another loss-making addition to the outgoing part of the DC world.

Blue Beetle arrived this weekend with very little in the way of competition. Barbie and Oppenheimer are now entering their fifth weekend, while Universal’s canine-led R-rated comedy Strays is the only notable new release. DC’s latino hero is now looking to take $25 million at the domestic box office, which will be enough to topple Barbie’s $20.5 million, and easily surpass Oppenheimer’s $11 million. Meanwhile, Strays has limped in with $8.5 million, despite its all-star voice cast including Jamie Foxx, Will Ferrell and Randall Park.

While this win for Blue Beetle is one that allows the studio to claim the “#1 Movie” banner for social media posts and sound bites, in the realm of superhero movies there is no way to deny that this is another embarrassing disappointment for Warner Bros., and one that has been made worse by the Batgirl fiasco of last year, when Blue Beetle was saved from being scrapped while Leslie Grace’s movie became a tax write-off.

Release: Blue Beetle Ending, Explained

Should Blue Beetle Have Been Scrapped?
Warner Bros. Pictures

There are many projects that are cancelled before they ever see light of day, but the scrapping of Batgirl is one that stung for many DC fans. While the movie would have included Brendan Fraser as its villain, and another outing for Michael Keaton’s Batman, reports suggested the almost completed movie was “not releasable.” At the same time, Blue Beetle was saved from the scrap heap and spruced up for a theatrical release.

Now the movie has arrived, and it is questionable as to whether it should have gone the same way as Batgirl.Although the movie has been getting positive reviews, and has been heavily praised for bringing diversity to the franchise, its lowly box office suggests that writing the movie off could have been a more financially sound approach by Warner Bros.

Of course, there are other forces at work and making decisions are not as simple as they seem from the outside. It has become clear over the last several months that Batgirl simply didn’t fit into the new DCU plan, while Blue Beetle seems to have a place in James Gunn and Peter Safran’s comic book world. It seems though that even Gunn’s comments about Blue Beetle being the “first DCU character” have not been enough to stir interest in the film. Ironically, Blue Beetle’s Max debut at a later date could well be much more impressive than its theatrical one.