Summary
- Blue Beetle is facing challenges due to changes in the franchise and the actors' union strike, but it is still performing better than expected thanks to its appeal to the Latino community.
- With a lower budget compared to other DC films, Blue Beetle has a higher chance of making a profit and is garnering support from a dedicated fan base.
- The movie follows Jaime Reyes as he becomes the new host of the scarab, an artifact that grants him powerful abilities and sets him on a journey to protect his family and honor his father's legacy.
Blue Beetle is determined to be a moderate but considerable success even if that exclusively depends on the fans hard work to promote the movie, which it seems to be working out.
Jaime Reyes' introduction to the world of superheroes on the big screen has come in the worst possible time. First of all, Angel Manuel Soto's picture got caught in the middle of the many changes the franchise is going through. Last year, Warner Bros. Pictures merged with Discovery, and a new CEO came in. David Zaslav knew the DCU needed a fresh start urgently, and named James Gunn and Peter Safran as the heads of DC Studios, a division in charge of developing and supervising all the projects related with the brand, including movies, tv shows, animated projects and videogames.
Unfortunately, four movies were already set to be release: Shazam! Fury of the Gods, The Flash, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom and Blue Beetle. The first two ended up being huge disappointments at the box office, which seems a very unfavorable scenario for Xolo Mariduena's led film to come out.
But that's not all. Last months, the actors' union joined the writers' on strike, demanding better working conditions, better deals when it comes to residual payments now that streaming exists, rules on the use of AI in the industry, among many other stuff. This means that the stars from the movie cannot promote it, which of course doesn't help to get people to go to theaters to see the film.
Blue Beetle May Perform Better Than Originally Expected
Even in the middle of all of that, Blue Beetle's projections are getting better, especially because the movie is aiming to the Latino community, a market where is doing pretty well. According to recent report from Deadline, the film is now tracking to gross $30 million dollars during its debut weekend, which is lower than what The Flash did. But Andy Muschietti's movie had a budget of $200 million, while Blue Beetle's near $120 million, so it needs much less money in order to make a profit.
Blue Beetle has another huge advantage, which is the fans. While a big part of DC fans and the media didn't support The Flash, mostly because of the VFX and all the conflicts around Ezra Miller, Blue Beetle is being fully supported by a considerably large portion of the audience, even beyond the Latino community. So projections could still go higher for the next DC film.
The movie follows Jaime Reyes, a young man recently graduated from college who returns home to find out his family is going through a hard time financially. In order to help them, he tries to get a job with the help of Jenny Kord, part of the family behind one of the most powerful companies in the city.
While trying to honor her father's legacy, Jenny steals an ancient artifact that her aunt had to create weapons, and gives it to Jaime to guard it for her. Which none of them expected was that the artifact, known as the scarab, would choose the young man to be the new host of its powers.