Action films and comic books have often mated to produce beloved fan favorites. Henry Cavill and Dwayne Johnson, both well-known for their roles in the DC Universe, are two such actors who have influenced this cinematic environment. However, the circumstance appears to have changed with James Gunn’s arrival. For instance, the eagerly anticipated Blue Beetle, which stars the talented Xolo Maridueña, has sparked a flurry of debate over its box office result.
It seems DCU is struggling financially under the new management.
The superhero fandom has been disappointed by films like The Flash, Shazam! Fury of the Gods, and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania because these epic tales did not evoke the same emotions as the movies from the 2000s and 2010s. The Dark Knight, Iron Man, and Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man are just a few examples of movies with single-character stories that most fans miss.
Fortunately, when it came to Blue Beetle, Ángel Manuel Soto provided a solid origin story for a hero that not many people were familiar with. However, the budget breakdown is disappointing.
Is Xolo Maridueña’s Blue Beetle Fading at the Box Office?
It was essential that Mexican and Mexican-American actors appear in Ángel Manuel Soto’s directed movie Blue Beetle, which is a tribute to the Latino community. Xolo Maridueña, who viewers may also be familiar with from Netflix’s Cobra Kai, has played the lead role of Jaime Reyes, a.k.a. Blue Beetle.
The global box office total for the film is predicted to be between $140 million and $170 million at the end of its theatrical run. Blue Beetle had a modest $104 million production budget. To break even, a movie must typically make twice as much money as it spent on production.
According to this theory, Blue Beetle needs to gross about $208 million worldwide to cover its expenses and turn a profit. Thus, the film would need to make close to $300 million at the end of its run to be considered successful.
Well, note that Blue Beetle made $26 million during its first weekend of release. With this result, the movie surpassed its initial weekend projection, which was roughly $25 million. The movie made an additional $18 million from 64 foreign markets, bringing its global debut earnings to a modest $43 million. The film is currently lagging behind Shazam! Fury of the Gods and Birds of Prey, and is predicted to lose nearly $40 million by the end of its box office run.
Such a disappointing turnaround at the box office for one of DC’s most promising new superheroes goes directly against what was being marketed as the studio’s promised evolution after Henry Cavill and Dwayne Johnson’s highly publicized and contentious exit. But it seems as though bad publicity did take a toll on DC as its latest film takes a hit in terms of box office returns despite a promising 92% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.
Budget For Ángel Manuel Soto’s Blue Beetle
According to THR, the actors’ experience determines how much they will typically be paid for the lead roles in superhero movies. Over the past ten years, salaries for first-time superhero leads have remained consistent in the mid-six figures. The same goes for directors who are making their first foray into the Marvel or DC universes.
Director Ángel Manuel Soto did disclose how they had to get inventive when handling the action scenes in Blue Beetle due to budget constraints. Blue Beetle was originally going to make its Max debut, which required a smaller budget than the sizeable sums typically allotted for a theatrical release.
Soto was forced to substitute less expensive special effects for the expensive ones:
“[W]e were able to be smart about how we handled our budget. That’s why we went practical, and that’s why we went to real locations. And oddly enough, that also makes it feel bigger and more immersed because even the third act takes place in a real fortress that’s 500 years old in Puerto Rico. That’s not like a green screen set, you know? So, being able to do that and see the magnificence of this building, how imposing it is, and being able to capture that and have fun with this adventure in it, it was a way for us to be able to stretch our budget in a way that kind of delivers on it, I guess.”
At this time, specific details about Blue Beetle‘s marketing plan are kept a secret from the public. However, it appears that the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike could have halted any actor-related marketing initiatives.
While on strike, actors drew back from participating in interviews, press junkets, or posts about their upcoming films on social media.
Blue Beetle has earned $81.8 million worldwide as of August 27, 2023, with $46.3 million in North America (the United States and Canada) and $35.5 million in other countries.
Source- Collider
