5 reasons why Blue Beetle failed at the box office

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“Blue Beetle” was a film caught in the middle of many battles fought at Warner Bros. at the time. Discovery. The company was trying to prioritize releasing movies to HBO Max in an effort to attract subscribers and make headway in the streaming wars. Meanwhile, Hollywood was beginning to realize that the box office was still sorely needed, trying to find a way forward on that front in the wake of the pandemic. Oh, and there were also two strikes in Hollywood in 2023.

All of this contributed to “Blue Beetle” bombing at the box office. Directed by Ángel Manuel Soto, the DC Comics adaptation was initially planned to stream directly on HBO Max before moving to a theatrical release. It was released in theaters on the weekend of August 18, 2023, closing out the summer on a relatively low note. It opened to just $25 million domestically, against a budget in the $120 million range, and things never got much better from there.

The film finished its run with $72.4 million domestically, plus a very low $58.3 million internationally, for a global total of $130.7 million worldwide. Even though “Blue Beetle” included a credits scene signaling the franchise’s ambitions, it was a major disappointment for Warner Bros. and the then-newly formed DC Studios, led by James Gunn and Peter Safran.

A few years after its initial release, the film is now in Netflix’s top 10 most-watched films, continuing to find a streaming audience. But what went wrong in the first place? Why did this film fail to reach moviegoers? We’re going to look at the main reasons why “Blue Beetle” failed at the box office. Let’s go.

The film centers on Jaime Reyes (Xolo Maridueña), a recent college graduate who returns home in search of his purpose in the world. Fate intervenes when he finds himself in possession of an ancient alien relic (known as the Scarab) which chooses Jaime as its symbiotic host, giving him incredible armor with unpredictable powers.

Critics liked “Blue Beetle” quite well; it currently holds a 78% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Audiences who saw it really liked it, with an audience rating of 90%. So why haven’t there been enough of these people in movie theaters? Well, for one thing, Blue Beetle isn’t a flagship character in the DC Comics canon. He’s nowhere near as recognizable as Batman, Superman, or even Green Arrow.

That’s not to say that B-tier heroes can’t headline major franchises. “Iron Man” became a big hit that revived the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and he wasn’t a big name at all in the broader cultural sphere before this film’s release. That being said, not having an instantly recognizable hero at the center of a superhero movie means the film has to do a little extra work to keep audiences interested.

In this case, the marketing didn’t convince people that this was one of those must-see events, as many superhero films were throughout the 2000s and 2010s. What seemed to happen was that people then saw the film at home and were charmed by it. But this did not improve its results at the time of its release.

By the time “Blue Beetle” arrived in late summer 2023, the old DC Extended Universe (DCEU) that began in 2013 with the release of Zack Snyder’s “Man of Steel” was taking its final breaths. The DCEU has had some highs, like the $1.1 billion smash that was “Aquaman,” but it’s also had some very low lows, like the theatrical cut of “Justice League” and the #ReleaseTheSnyderCut mess that followed.

The big problem is that virtually nothing has worked for the DCEU during the pandemic period. “Wonder Woman 1984” and “The Suicide Squad” had to be released directly to HBO Max and to theaters, leading to significantly lower returns. In 2022, The Rock’s “Black Adam” died out, failing to reach $400 million worldwide. And 2023 has been much worse than anyone could have imagined.

“Shazam! Fury of the Gods” literally became one of the biggest superhero bombs ever made, grossing just over $134 million on a budget of $125 million. The situation got worse when the much-hyped “The Flash” flopped spectacularly, grossing less than $275 million against a whopping $200 million budget. By the time “Blue Beetle” arrived, the DCEU was in a terrible cold streak. Public trust in the DC brand was arguably at an all-time low. None of these films did Jaime Reyes any favors in his live-action big screen debut.

In late 2022, it was revealed that “Guardians of the Galaxy” trilogy director James Gunn was set to head Warner Bros.’ DC Studios. alongside megaproducer Peter Safran. They were going to hit the restart button, abandoning (almost) everything from the DCEU. In January 2023, they made a big and dramatic announcement, revealing the first wave of the new DCU, dubbed “Gods and Monsters.” This included Gunn’s “Superman” film, among others.

Gunn and Safran attempted to clarify that “Blue Beetle” was not an abandoned project that would no longer make sense, saying the film “is totally disconnected” and “it can totally be a part of the DCU.” All the same, a clear signal was sent to the audience that it was out with the old and in with the new, and despite what the duo was trying to say about this project, it felt like it was largely lumped in with the old as people started talking about the new wave of films and TV shows that were headed our way.

Even in the best-case scenario, with everything happening in late 2023, this film would have faced a relatively uphill battle. DC’s impending and noisy reboot was, as a result, one of the biggest nails in the coffin that virtually guaranteed that this film wouldn’t be a true theatrical success.

Not that it always helps move things forward at the box office, but promoting a film, especially an expensive film, is always the key to its eventual success, or lack thereof. In the case of “Blue Beetle,” it was at a significant disadvantage because the Screen Actors Guild was in the midst of a lengthy strike at the time of its release. It didn’t help at all that the Writers Guild of America was also on strike for months, with the dual strikes casting a huge shadow over Hollywood for much of the year.

As a result, Xolo Maridueña, George Lopez, Susan Sarandon and the rest of the cast were unable to do any promotion for the film. The SAG strike will not end until November. It’s just one in a long list of films that have been severely affected by the strikes, many of which have been postponed to 2024 and beyond. In this case, it likely hurt the bottom line. Despite this, the film’s director stood by his actors at the time.

“They can’t be here today. But you know what? They’re fighting the good fight,” Soto said at the premiere, per Variety. “It’s very important that we understand that they are heroes right now. They are sacrificing this great opportunity to see each other.”

In 2021 and 2022, it was easier to write off any box office failures as movie theaters got back on their feet after being hammered by the pandemic. While some superhero films like “Morbius” have been serious disappointments, others like “The Batman” and “Spider-Man: No Way Home” have been huge successes. So there was no reason to believe that superheroes were losing relevance in the pop culture sphere.

However, by the end of 2023, it became clear that the era of supposed superhero dominance was over. Every DC film that year either failed or greatly disappointed. Even once-bulletproof powerhouse Marvel Studios saw “The Marvels” earn a disastrous $206 million worldwide, while Avengers-level “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” fell well short of expectations with $476 million. It wasn’t just a DC problem.

“Blue Beetle” arrived at a time when audiences needed reasons to leave the house more than ever, and a superhero movie for the sake of a superhero movie was no longer going to cut it. Gone are the days of films like “Venom” that grossed $856 million worldwide. At that time, we were 15 years from the billion-dollar success of “The Dark Knight” and 23 years from “X-Men,” which helped bring Marvel into the mainstream after “Blade” opened the door in 1998.

It’s not that superhero cinema is dead, it’s just that the boom we had for about 20 years is over, and this film unfortunately ended up on the wrong side of that boom.

You can also grab “Blue Beetle” on 4K, Blu-ray, or DVD from Amazon.