The Big Picture

Gran Turismo races to the top spot with a $17.3 million debut, potentially becoming the final hit of the summer movie season. Barbie continues its domination at the box office, adding $15.1 million to its total and becoming the most successful movie of the year for Warner Bros. Blue Beetle struggles to make a lasting impression in the superhero market, earning only $12.6 million during its second weekend and facing underwhelming box office returns for DC.

Gran Turismo races to the top spot of the domestic box office after charting with a $17.3 million debut, allowing Neil Blomkamp’s drama about a gamer who became a racer to potentially become the final hit of this year’s summer movie season. In the meantime, Barbie continues to dominate in what has become the most successful box office run of the year, adding $15.1 million to its domestic total after a month since it premiered in theaters. With these final summer blockbusters racing to a photo finish, it’s time to move forward into the fall season.

Halloween is quickly approaching audiences, and that means studios will do everything in their power to come up with the scariest stories they can think of for the season. The Nun II is set to bring back one of the most dangerous entities from the Conjuring franchise on September 8, while The Exorcist: Believer possesses audiences with a return to one of the most iconic franchises in the genre on October 13. But the most anticipated movie of the season is the one actually closer to Halloween itself on October 27, when one of the most popular independent video game franchises of the past decade arrives on the big screen in Five Nights at Freddy’s.

‘Gran Turismo’ Speeds Towards the Top
Blomkamp’s latest project is based on a true story of when Jann Mardenborough (played by Archie Madekwe in the film) went from a major fan of racing video games to a professional F1 race car driver. With $17.3 million, the movie was the highest-grossing release of the weekend at the domestic box office, worldwide Gran Turismo raced past $53 million. Also starring David Harbour and Orlando Bloom, the adventure will have some room to breathe since the upcoming weeks don’t see as many debuts as the peak of the summer. It remains to be seen just how far Gran Turismo can go.

Image by Jefferson Chacon

It’s ‘Barbie’s World, Other Movies Are Living in It
Greta Gerwig’s emotional blockbuster about a doll trying to find the meaning of life became the highest-grossing movie of the year recently. It also became the most successful release in the history of Warner Bros. When it comes to this weekend, the picture led by Margot Robbie added another $15.1 million to the whopping total it has managed to earn at the domestic box office. Around the world, Barbie is making its way to the heights of $1.3 billion. Life in plastic is fantastic, as the story about one of the most iconic toys of all time comes to life and will begin to close out its historic performance.

‘Blue Beetle’ Tries to Fight Overpowering Odds
In the third place of this weekend’s chart, Blue Beetle can be found still trying to leave a lasting impression in a market that has clearly become more selective about the superhero stories it decides to embrace. Ángel Manuel Soto’s movie about the origin story of a new DC hero only earned $12.6 million during its second weekend playing in theaters, with its global total just passing $81 million. Blue Beetle stars Xolo Maridueña as Jaime Reyes in a heartfelt adventure that, despite positive reviews and word of mouth, is seeing more underwhelming box office returns for DC.