Blue Beetle Box Office Reveals An Unexpected DC Movie Narrative

2023’s Blue Beetle could be on track to become DC Studios’ most successful film of the year, which reveals an unfortunate narrative for DC’s previous live-action projects. Blue Beetle released on August 18, 2023, introducing DC audiences to a new superhero in the shape of Xolo Maridueña’s Jaime Reyes, a.k.a. the Blue Beetle. Despite releasing after several disappointing installments in Warner Bros.’ faltering DC shared universe, Blue Beetle was met with generally positive reviews and is currently heading towards being marked an actual success for DC Studios. Even so, Blue Beetle’s success casts a shadow over DC Studios’ other 2023 releases.

Throughout the development of the DC Extended Universe, Warner Bros. and DC Studios (earlier DC Films) came under a huge amount of scrutiny. This was mostly attributed to the overly dark tone of the franchise, often lackluster visual effects, and repetitive and dull storylines. These criticisms saw a huge increase in 2022, which marked a period of major change at Warner Bros., which merged with Discovery Inc. and conceived the new DC Studios, placing James Gunn and Peter Safran in charge. With the franchise quickly confirmed to be rebooting, DC Studios’ 2023 projects suffered, so Blue Beetle’s success has proven to be something of a surprise.

Blue Beetle’s Box Office Beating Shazam! Fury Of The Gods Highlights The Sequel’s Problems

After its third weekend in theaters, Blue Beetle has grossed a total of $58.5 million at the domestic box office ($104.4 million globally), which means Blue Beetle has out-grossed Shazam! Fury of the Gods’ domestic box office over the entirety of its theatrical release. The sequel to 2019’s Shazam! released on March 17, 2023, but was quickly deemed inferior to its predecessor. The fact that Blue Beetle has already grossed more than Fury of the Gods did, domestically at least, proves that the connections established to weaker projects in DC’s live-action franchise harmed the 2023 film, as Fury of the Gods formed clear links to 2022’s reviled Black Adam.

While James Gunn’s announcement of the new DC Universe didn’t come with any mention of a sequel to Shazam! Fury of the Gods, the DC Studios co-CEO has since revealed that Blue Beetle will continue in the franchise. This effectively proves that even DC Studios saw the potential in Blue Beetle, and saw the disappointing reaction to Fury of the Gods even before its release. With the futures of both Black Adam and Shazam effectively canceled, and the poor reception to The Flash perhaps constituting a re-evaluation, it seems Blue Beetle might be the only hopeful DC project of 2023 – unless Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom works some magic.

How Blue Beetle Can Break DC’s 2023 Movie Misfortune

DC Studios had a string of disappointing projects prior to Blue Beetle’s release. Wonder Woman 1984 and The Suicide Squad released during the COVID-19 pandemic, which had an impact on their box office totals. However, Black Adam, Shazam! Fury of the Gods, and The Flash could have restored the impressive box office figures of projects including Aquaman, Wonder Woman, and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Conversely, this failed as more viewers lost faith in DC’s ability to produce good quality stories, so the surprising success of Blue Beetle could mark a turning point for the DC Universe, though it still has a way to go to turn a profit.