Warner Bros. has attributed the low box office opening of Blue Beetle to the recently dissipated Hurricane Hilary.
According to ComicBook.com, the studio told Exhibitor Relations Co. that the tropical storm’s impact on the latest DC superhero movie “is anticipated to be significant, particularly in Southern California where the film is over‐indexing.”
Los Angeles, which represented the number one market for Blue Beetle, was hit by rain, flooding, mudslides, and rockslides over the weekend of August 18, according to the National Weather Service’s L.A. office. Hurricane Hilary was the first tropical storm to hit Southern California in 84 years.
Blue Beetle had one of the lowest openings for a DCEU movie
Blue Beetle opened to $25 million at the domestic box office, marking one of the lowest debuts ever for a DC Extended Universe movie. The Xolo Maridueña led feature is currently nestled between the openings of The Suicide Squad ($26 million) and Wonder Woman 1984 ($16.7 million). However, it is worth noting that both of those movies were released simultaneously in theaters and on streaming due to the pandemic, which means that both could have possibly opened higher if released solely on the big screen.
Blue Beetle’s opening is also below the other two DCEU instalments that released earlier this year: Shazam! Fury of the Gods ($30.1 million) and The Flash ($55 million). Both of those films have been labelled box office bombs, with the latter expected to lose Warner Bros. Discovery upwards of $200 million.
Critics and fans are loving Blue Beetle
While the box office may be nothing to write home about, Blue Beetle has become one of the best reviewed movies in the DCEU, currently sitting at 77% certified fresh on the review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes. Critics have praised Maridueña’s performance in the movie as the title superhero, Jaime Reyes, who after bonding with an alien scarab becomes the third Blue Beetle.
Also starring in Blue Beetle are Adriana Barraza, Damián Alcázar, Elpidia Carrillo, Bruna Marquezine, Raoul Max Trujillo, Susan Sarandon, and George Lopez.
Blue Beetle is currently playing in theaters.
