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

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.

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)

The Last Voyage of the Demeter ($2.5 million)