This past weekend saw the DC Comics adaptation “Blue Beetle” hit cinemas. Despite fairly good reviews, the film managed to snag the second-lowest domestic weekend opening of any film in the DCEU of the past decade.
Warner Bros. Pictures confirmed that the movie took in just $25 million – besting only “Wonder Woman 1984” which scored $16.7 million. That film’s fortunes were hampered by a simultaneous release on HBO Max, scathing reviews, and the majority of U.S. cinemas being closed due to the pandemic.
“Blue Beetle” doesn’t have those excuses beyond the cast and crew being unable to promote the film much due to the actor’s strike. However, in a statement to Exhibitor Relations Co. (via ComicBook.com) on Sunday, Warner Bros. Pictures reportedly put some of the blame on something else – the weather.
Los Angeles, the No. 1 market for the film, was hit by rain, flooding, mudslides, and rock slides over the weekend as tropical storm Hilary hit Southern California – the first tropical storm in the region in 84 years. Hilary reportedly broke “virtually all rainfall daily records” for the area, according to the National Weather Service.
The studio said in its statement: “The storm’s impact is anticipated to be significant, particularly in Southern California where the film is over‐indexing.”
Despite the bad box-office result, “Blue Beetle” still managed to unseat “Barvie” to take the top spot at the box-office and come in not that far behind both James Gunn’s “The Suicide Squad” ($26.2M) and the more recent “Shazam! Fury of the Gods” ($30.1M) in terms of other DC projects.
“Blue Beetle” is expected to get a viewing boost this weekend as National Cinema Day on Sunday August 27th could draw in people who may otherwise be hesitant to pay full price.
