DC's Blue Beetle Beats Barbie at North America Box Office

Blue Beetle stars 22-year-old American actor Xolo Mariduena, and is the first live-action superhero film built around a Latin-American protagonist.

By Agence France-Presse | Updated: 21 August 2023 16:30 IST

DC's Blue Beetle Beats Barbie at North America Box Office

Photo Credit: Warner Bros.

Xolo Maridueña stars in Blue Beetle

Highlights

Barbie, in its fifth week out, scored $21.5 million in ticket sales
Overseas box office prospects of Blue Beetle are strong
The film follows college graduate whose body is taken over by the Scarab

It was a good news-bad news weekend for Blue Beetle, the latest superhero film to hit North American theaters and the first built around a live-action Latino protagonist. The DC Studios/Warner Bros. production topped the charts for the Friday-through-Sunday period and even dethroned Barbie, that reigning queen of pinkness, industry watcher Exhibitor Relations said Sunday. However, its estimated take of $25.4 million (roughly Rs. 211 crore) was 'the lowest DC superhero debut of this era' other than 2021's money-losing Wonder Woman 1984, the sequel to Wonder Woman.

Blue Beetle stars 22-year-old American actor Xolo Mariduena -- who is of mixed Mexican, Cuban and Ecuadoran descent -- as a new college graduate whose body is taken over by the mysterious Scarab, which gives him superhuman powers. Analyst David A. Gross said that while ticket sales for Blue Beetle were only a third the average for new superhero flicks, reviews have been good and overseas prospects are strong.

Barbie, in its fifth week out, scored $21.5 (roughly Rs. 178 crore) million in ticket sales, "a huge result at this point in its theatrical run," according to Variety. The Warner Bros. fantasy-comedy has now taken in an eye-popping $1.27 billion (roughly Rs. 10,558 crore) globally. In third, also in its fifth week out, was Universal's Oppenheimer, at $10.6 million (roughly Rs. 88 crore). The historical drama about the origins of the first atomic bomb has passed the $700 million (roughly Rs. 5,819 crore) mark globally.

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Fourth place went to Paramount's animated Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, at $8.4 million. (roughly Rs. 70 crore) Its huge voice cast includes Maya Rudolph, Ayo Edebiri, John Cena, Jackie Chan, Ice Cube and Paul Rudd. In fifth was Universal's new talking-dog comedy Strays, at $8.3 million (roughly Rs. 69 crore), a concerning start for a movie made on a $46 million (roughly Rs. 382 crore) budget.

Rounding out the top 10 were:

Meg 2: The Trench ($6.7 million)

Talk to Me ($3.2 million)

Haunted Mansion ($3 million)

Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One ($2.7 million)

Margot Robbie-Led Barbie Is Getting a Digital Release in September

The Last Voyage of the Demeter ($2.5 million)

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Blue Beetle

Release Date 18 August 2023
Language English
Genre Action, Adventure, Superhero
Cast
Xolo Maridueña, Bruna Marquezine, Belissa Escobedo, George Lopez, Adriana Barraza, Elpidia Carrillo, Damián Alcázar, Raoul Trujillo, Susan Sarandon
Director
Angel Manuel Soto
Producer
Peter Safran, John Rickard

Barbie

Release Date 21 July 2023
Language English
Genre Comedy, Romance
Cast
Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, America Ferrera, Simu Liu, Kate McKinnon, Ariana Greenblatt, Alexandra Shipp, Emma Mackey, Will Ferrell, Issa Rae, Michael Cera, Hari Nef, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Rhea Perlman, Ncuti Gatwa, Emerald Fennell, Sharon Rooney, Scott Evans, Ana Cruz Kayne, Connor Swindells, Ritu Arya, Jamie Demetriou
Director
Greta Gerwig
Producer
Margot Robbie, Tom Ackerley, Robbie Brenner, David Heyman

Oppenheimer

Release Date 21 July 2023
Language English
Genre Biography, Drama
Cast
Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr., Florence Pugh, Rami Malek, Benny Safdie, Josh Hartnett, Dane DeHaan, Jack Quaid, Matthew Modine, Dylan Arnold, Olli Haaskivi, Alden Ehrenreich, David Krumholtz, Michael Angarano, Kenneth Branagh
Director
Christopher Nolan
Producer
Christopher Nolan, Emma Thomas, Charles Roven

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