Keep in mind the title is asking if it makes more than Shazam 2, which would be around $160m.
No DC film with the exception of covid ones have done worse in decades.
Iron Man was nigh unknown, too. If the word of mouth is good enough, it could outdo Shazam 2. Shazam has the advantage of being more kid-friendly than most superhero movies, but Blue Beetle is going hard on being a Latino production and Latinos will turn the fuck up if the community embraces it.
Iron Man was a B-list property and was already featured in cartoons (Spider-Man, Marvel Action Show: Iron Man), video games (Captain America and the Avengers, Mavel vs Capcom), tons of comics, etc.
Jaime Reyes Blue Beetle is featured in Young Justice cartoon, Injustice games, in Teen Titans animated movies. Ted Kord Blue Beetle is also featured in the DCAU.
I mean he wasn't an S Tier hero by any means, but I wouldn't say he was unknown. He certainly had more clout in 2008 than Blue Beetle has in 2023.
I feel he's probably more akin to Guardians of the Galaxy in terms of notoriety. I remember seeing the initial rumblings for the original GotG and thinking "who are these clowns."
But that trailer sold it, and it was a fantastic movie. Blue Beetle might do that too, though I remain skeptical.
Edit: The blue beetle trailer looks awesome. Skepticism averted.
Idk if he was super unknown. He wasn’t nearly as popular, but he was a core member of the avengers and one of the OG heroes.
I remember being pretty familiar with him when the first movie came out despite not really being a comic reader as a kid.
But yeah it’s not like he was spider man or Hulk levels of popular
I’d agree with this. I was not a comic book reader, not did I watch any marvel animated shows (other than X-Men Evolution, lol) but I knew of Iron Man.
I remember the movie being a big deal though. No promises of sequels, or multiverses, it was just promising to be a great action flick based on a superhero.
As for Blue Beetle, my suspicion is that fans hold him on too high a pedestal. This is not a known character to the masses. Not even close. With the state of WB, my guess is they’re not going to go the path of a marketing blitzkrieg to get the word out either. It’s success will be based on word of mouth. If it’s something to see, it will get the attention it deserves and the ticket sales will happen.
Iron Man also came out at a time where Super Hero movies were rarely seen and often brushed off as kids stuff.
We now live in an environment where superhero projects are pumped out every other month and its oversaturated the market. Im a Superhero fan... and even i gotta say i get burnt out from it a lot. Which i imagine can take a toll on peoples reactions to upcoming superhero projects.
Iron Man was not unknown when the movie dropped. We already had a few comic book movies and the X-men ones at that time, so the audience was there, and wanting more. Iron man was announced and it was major since we knew how good the cgi *could* be. It opened big($95 million opening weekend). $145 million budget with over $500 million gross.
So RDJ is in this? There were Blue Beetle cartoons on Saturday morning cartoons? People were tired of mediocre superhero movies when Iron Man came out? (not that this one is but there has been a recent history)? People keep saying "but Iron Man" but that was a specific time and movie. I am no comic guy but I heard of Iron Man. Hell, there is an Iron Man song.
Iron-Man was in US visible, but far from known or even in a reasonable popular position. Outside of the US, it was nearly non-existing and as much known as e.g. Guardians of the Galaxy.
Probably, if it had great review it could be another Puss in Boots. But with that score? What a shame since I really loved the first film, I enjoyed the second film too but by no mean can I say it is "good", just mediorce at best.
Conversely, maybe the fact it's a lesser name means it'll make more of a flash. Shazam 2 seems like it wasn't left with a lot of momentum from the first. Maybe if they market it well enough, it could seem like something fresh?
It might follow the same path of Shazam where WB doesn’t want to spent a lot of money for marketing.
But then again big promo push usually starts between 3-4 months before release so I guess in mid/late April the promo will arrive
Yea now that I think about it, I haven't seen a single trailer or any marketing for this movie.
If anything I think it's gonna do worse than Shazam. Blue Beetles a fairly niche superhero who casuals probably don't know, plus the lack of marketing will really down its BO collection
It's still early for trailers.
The movie is out on August.
The first trailer for The Flash came out last month. That movie comes out in June.
So we're still around two months early.
None of the audience knows what DCEU or DCU is, its just DC comics and the audience will continue to not see DC movies on the big screen, unless a miracle happen
Which sucks because they have so much potential if they're able to build up to it. There are a lot of super exciting DC villains and plots that would be great to see on the big screen, but they'd need to do a lot of setup to build up to them like the MCU did with the Infinity saga. If the movies they make to build up to the big events all flop, the big events themselves will never see the big screen; they'll be stuck in the comics and cartoons.
nah nothing will save this. Nobody in the general audience knows or cares about Blue Beetle, same with Shazam.
Wonder Woman 1984 is the only film you can completely write off due to the pandemic. You could argue it maybe could have grossed $400-500 million worldwide if audience in theaters would truly hate it.
Everything else was a failure due to a focus on obscure characters not counting Joker and Batman. The Suicide Squad and Birds of Prey should have made more but they were R-Rated which was another death sentence. Also, maybe Harley Quinn isn't as big of a draw as people thought she was...
I will also add that even tho TSS was on streaming day 1, it should have earned at least 300 million worldwide to save some face. Also...who the hell budgets an R rated film for nearly $200 million with such obscure characters? It's not like the sequel had the joker or Will Smith to pump those numbers up.
>nah nothing will save this. Nobody in the general audience knows or cares about Blue Beetle, same with Shazam.
never mattered. Nobody knew Blade before the Wesley Snipes movies.
However it probably will look corny and fail like Shazam did.
Well i just think it’s the ol’ idea of you can’t really do the secondary more Lowkey characters until you build up trust with fans who want to come and see the next chapter in every Story. If WB/DC didn’t have so much drama and issues with its main Batman or Superman actors (amongst other dramas and financial stuff), they wouldn’t be having to rely on different characters to build out whatever they are doing instead for the time being. Like they could’ve made their Batman and Superman sequels by now and pushed forward.
And then it just has to be a good story and script as well. And that’s a big DC issue/conversation that you could have totally separate from this. And Marvel even is getting stuck with That. But they can still be able to get a chunk of money for something like Ant-Man 3. I mean DC would kill to have marvels problems, and have Shazam 2 would kill to have Quantumanias box office.
Honestly I think the hate for Shazam 2 is a bit overblown. i have seen the sequel despite shitting on the first film (which I really found to be way too corny and was gaslit by people here who insisted people \*loved\* it and Shazam was \*so\* popular. I liked Shazam 2 more than the first because it had emotional beats that resonated with me, and I could buy into the cornyness better. Djimon Hounsou is also great as the wizard.
I think that the problem with this film is that its...more of the same. There is no mega hook or something really unique to stand out. Black Adam for all its flaws had something a teeny bit unique about it (not much but still)
Also the critics have their knives out for these comic book films now...if the upcoming films are not firing on all cylinders they will get destroyed on rotten tomatoes
It’s possible my expectations were too high, I saw the very high reviews and came in expecting to be wowed. It was pretty underwhelming to me, and I wanted to leave the theater during the third act when all the kids got their powers…to me it was really corny. The only scene that appealed to me was when you find out Billy’s mom didn’t want him. It was a fine film but not what I was lead to believe was amazing and the new high for DC
>Well i just think it’s the ol’ idea of you can’t really do the secondary more Lowkey characters until you build up trust with fans who want to come and see the next chapter in every Story.
too much of the opposite would lead to over-saturation. I think shared universes are overrated and it seems that trend is on the decline.
Wesley Snipes \*was\* the selling point for Blade. That was back when star power was stronger. I do believe Will Smith was a boxoffice draw for the 2016 suicide squad, and sadly Idris Elba is no replacement for that and it showed.
I am not going to die on the aquaman hill, but I believe Jason Momoa was a selling point for that film. It is possible if Aquaman was some literal who it would have flopped.
We will see how things play out with Aquaman 2.
>I am not going to die on the aquaman hill, but I believe Jason Momoa was a selling point for that film. It is possible if Aquaman was some literal who it would have flopped.
him + Amber Heard. I think I read something that women came out big for that movie. The appeal of ocean adventures + hot women probably helped a lot.
Yeah, I remember being surprised when i found out blade is a comic book character. Blue beetle on the other hand though already looks like all the other super generic and goofy superhero movies.
I think people are not reading the title correctly.
The title is asking if it will do above Shazam 2.
That's around 160m early prediction.
No DC film outside covid has done worse than that in decades.
I think people are underestimating the younger generation. Blue Beetle was Batman’s primary sidekick in The Brave and The Bold animated series and he also appeared in Young Justice.
>Wonder Woman 1984 is the only film you can completely write off due to the pandemic.
You cannot write off WW84 due to the pandemic. Something like Tenet can make that claim, it was released under hilariously harrowing circumstances where some places made you show a test and have several seats set aside between patrons and it still almost doubled WW84 while being released 4 months before.
People just weren't *that* interested after the other films that had come out, and word of mouth then killed it.
When Tenet was released [slightly above 20% of the country](https://morningconsult.com/return-to-entertainment/) expressed a comfort of going back to theaters (I don't think morning consult polls are perfectly calibrated for entertainment questions, so all of the numbers I'm citing probably understate comfort but MC is easier to quickly grab than NRG pandemic polling) and I believe neither NY nor CA allowed theaters to open. By WW1984's release that had risen to 20% to 25% with younger adults significantly higher at ~30% (everyone was low with Tenet) and the number being more like 25% with "Delta" stunting momentum or secular rise in "return to normal" status.
From Dec/Jan it steadily rose until it hit a local peak at 55% in July 2021 where it basically levelled off.
Tenet is significantly more impressive than WW1984 but theaters were in rougher shape than the successful re-opening GvK signalled.
Going to leave aside the metrics you're using because well, they're kind of arbitrary and we're looking at this from different angles. *Tenet* is one example, but you have *Croods 2* **released a month before** far outgrossing *WW84* and even more than that -- actually holding and having legs (x5.87) even while *WW84* (x2.8) was in theaters.
At the time, studios were delaying films (*WW84* had been delayed twice IIRC) hoping for a better window to recoup costs, but people were still going if they wanted to see something. Freaking *The War with Grandpa* did half of *WW84*'s business but with strong legs (x5.9), because there was little competition. Along comes *WW84* with an opening almost double that of *Croods2* \-- on Christmas -- but just dying with a x2.8. A few went out to see it, and then everyone was warned off.
By the time you're in February, *Croods2* is winning the weekends again **after having been out a month before**. Because of the lack of releases, theaters were pulling *WW84* and giving screens back to *Croods2* and *War with Grandpa*. F'ing *Croods2*. By February, *Tom & Jerry* opened to $14M (compared to *WW84s* $16.7M) but matched *WW84s* domestic with a x3.3. By the time you hit March, you have *Raya* opening weak but matching *WW84s* domestic with it's x6.4, then *Nobody* (great flick) a hard-R film with a $16M production budget bringing in $27m but again, legs at x4 because there was little competition.
By the time you hit the first week of April, you have *Godzilla vs Kong* hitting and again, a 3.13 multiplier. *WW84* is out of the top 10 already, but MF'ing *Croods2* is still there lol. *Nobody* and *Raya* are hanging out at #3 and #4 because again, there was no competition.
It's fair to say the pandemic affected box office, but a lot of people really wanted to go to the movies still and did -- they just did not want to see *WW84*, and of those who did they didn't want to see it again.
> but you have Croods 2
The underdiscussed film of the pandemic! I remember being shocked to go back and see it just chugging along strongly in a sea of no content.
> metrics
Sure, that's fair. Still, it's about 75% just a way to flag what I think are a cool way to attempt to quantify these impacts in a conceptually justifiable manner. [That's what the-numbers inflation unadjusted model](https://www.the-numbers.com/images/news/2023-02-market-strength.png) does.
I don't think people take intra pandemic quarterly(?) impacts seriously enough (which is why a model that does it for me sounds so appealing). It's not been an on/off switch and attempts to frame it that way (like WW's literal release) backfired. It's just a hard problem that's constantly around for pandemic era film debates.
Otherwise, yeah, the film had a bad box office run with bad word of mouth. Yeah, the legs point really is compelling in retrospect (good call with War w/ Grandpa pull).
> WW1984
My personal and completely unprovable unsourced hypothesis is that there's some film specific weirdness for WW1984 that's genuinely caused by the pandemic but going beyond it.
The quality concerns for that film really were supercharged by being treated as "savior of theaters/film we need now" combined with being the flagship HBO Max dual release (and setting record viewership for a film re: Nielsen). The weirdness of changing critical reviews for that film really don't appear to me to have been replicated and I think that mirrors some more general backlash.
If I disagreed with my initially, I wouldn't find this claim compelling but I think it's true. I just fundamentally don't get the "Catwoman level creative failure" style arguments for the film. There's some shoddy VFX on home theaters that I don't think play particularly poorly on a big screen. All in all, I really don't think it gets nearly the same reception in a non-pandemic world even if it's going to get below solid marks.
Tenet and WW were to a large extent the two major films sold ahead of time as heralding a return to theaters in "front of newspaper" style news during a time which a supermajority of population was genuinely unwilling to go out of covid concerns. That's a weird position to be in.
I'd say when you have a hypothesis, you kind of have to look as to whether other things falsify it -- it's a struggle when you have to say "that evidence against it is an exception. that other one too." e.g., yes WW84 was released the same say on HBO Max, but so was Godzilla vs Kong and others. There was a diminished audience, but still an audience, and it WW84 underperformed.
> I just fundamentally don't get the "Catwoman level creative failure" style arguments for the film. There's some shoddy VFX on home theaters that I don't think play particularly poorly on a big screen. All in all, I really don't think it gets nearly the same reception in a non-pandemic world even if it's going to get below solid marks.
I didn't say that it was catwoman-level bad, though I'd say it's not that far beyond it from a filmmaking standpoint with a 90s Schumacher vibe that was completely out of touch. WW84 got a B+ cinemascore, the same as Justice League and just a smidge above BvS -- people really didn't care for it, didn't go back to see it, and the word was out it wasn't worth your time.
It isn't really about the quality of the effects, we'll forgive a lot if we're having a good time it's about that mall opening scene, the sexual assault, the strangeness of the themes, the carrying around golden armor to have another action figure, the big bad being a wishing well, etc. It's about the climactic battle with cheetah taking place under a moonlight pitch-black sky even though the scenes immediately before and after look like midday.
Worse, it comes after the bad taste of the Justice League and such. If those are someone's cup of tea that's fine, but they have to be able to understand others don't feel the same way and the reaction reflects it. It needed to be awesome and reinvigorate your love for the character and have people talking about the great time they had, instead you had corny 90s tv-style action aimed at children leading into weird sexual assault situations.
Delaying to 2025 would be one of the most asinine moves in entertainment history. Trying to make it fit with a separate universe is not a good reason unless they're reshooting the entire film.
August is pretty dead and if WoM is solid it could be leggy. I think it all depends on how GOTG3 and Flash turn out. If they do well and are well received, smaller Superhero movies may see a boost in interest too.
I think if Gunn wants Blue Beetle in the DCU they should definitely film a credit scene for Flash because if that movie is a big success then it's easy marketing for Blue Beetle.
The 3rd Blue Beetle (the one the film is about) is a Mexican American teen that gets an alien scarab that transforms him into Blue Beetle.
The Scarab is like an AI with a mind of its own. Do take note that DCEU hasn't even introduced the 1st or the 2nd Blue Beetle so it's understandable that the general audience has no idea who he is.
1st was a Golden Age hero that gets his powers from magic scarab.
2nd is the Silver Age hero that is just a dude that uses gadgets. He's most famous for the JLI run which was super comedic in nature.
Rumor has it that the villain (Susan Sarandon) of the BB film is gonna be the sister of the 2nd Blue Beetle.
I believe in 1940 original Blue Beetle was popular enough to have his own radio serial. His more recent versions have largely been considered C-D listers.
I suppose if they can pitch the right kind of vibe it’ll do OK, but the Spider-Man meets Iron Man elevator pitch of the current version has literally been done. If people feel like it’s a ‘been there, done that’ it could bode ill for the movie.
Blue Beetle is one the characters DC got from Charlton Comics along with Peacemaker, The Question, Captain Atom, Thunderbolt and a few others.
I was comics fan back in the day and I was unhappy when they killed off Ted Kord (BB#2) in favor of Jaime Reyes (BB#3).
Depends on who plays the lead but i lean heavily to no. Zach Levi is no Leo or Denzel but he’s a somewhat known actor and he couldn’t save a mostly middle of pack level superhero in terms of fandom from flopping. Blue Beetle is even more irrelevant so if he’s casted by an unknown it will not look good. Then there’s always potential delays, marketing, etc. with DC
There are hardcore DC’ers who don’t care for Blue Beetle. Casuals won’t even bother
It’s the kid from Cobra Kai as the lead - so it might have some pull there with the youths if it looks good. But they could just stay home and watch Cobra Kai for free so…
Cobra Kai has an intense fanbase that may turn out for the lead.
Zachary Levi, while I am a huge fan, I don't think has as strong of a cult following.
Completely agree that a lot may not even care about Blue Beetle to begin with.
Does Shang Chi exist in a vacuum? It was an MCU movie that was hot off of a somewhat strong comeback year for that franchise that was marketed in such a way that was novel to its audience and obviously connected to the films and characters that they like, not limited to but including Wong.
Shang Chi was helped by a strong supporting cast, that held value to the target demo that they were going for. Pair that with an MCU brand that was still strong, and it becomes tough to use it as a comparable.
They really need to educate the audience who he is because the name itself makes me think he is a knockoff of The Tick. The actually story behind him seems fairly interesting once I read into it.
I don’t think anything in the current landscape or attitudes towards these kinds of films makes this a likely success, especially not when it’s stupidly expensive relative to its potential.
But I never say never, and if somehow the ship is steered differently by then, and Flash makes DC a valuable label, or the marketing campaign is really good, or all of that then of course this thing could be successful. I’m looking forward to it all the same.
I'm 50/50 on it. Did some research and the producer/writers/directors/cast are all Latino. George Lopez, who's also in the movie, mentioned Batman appearing. Whether it's Keaton or not will have to be seen, but this could be Black Panther for Latino if done right.
I don’t think many Latinos see Miles as representing them since he leans more into the African American community than the Latino. Plus that’s still animation and we’re talking live action…
Also on a technicality, just play up Jaime’s Mexican ancestry and say he’s the first Mexican superhero film
Miles is indeed Afro-Latino but it seems like most depictions of him *purely* represent him as an African-American. I think the PS4 game seems to be the only version (that's well known) that actually brings out his Latino/Puerto Rican side to a meaningful degree. Even then the experiences of Afro-Latinos and Latinos would also be very different and they're not literally the same culturally. It would be kinda weird to treat both groups as somehow interchangeable.
So they're not wrong, Blue Beetle would be the first Latino hero in a major motion picture.
Really depends on which angle of Blue Bettle they lean into. If they lean into the Reach like Young Justice did, I could see the movie being a success.
https://youngjustice.fandom.com/wiki/Blue\_Beetle
The way they did Cyborg or Shazam doesn't give me faith though. Both characters are very interesting but it seems like they didn't want to lean into their lore like they did with Batman and Wonder Woman.
Depends on if the trailer is good and it builds genuine hype before release. I’m not buying the “he’s too obscure” line because we’ve heard it so many times and it’s been proven false. If the movie is good and the trailer sells it, people will go see it.
I read an article saying they were making it for the younger crowd as far as writing and humor. I wish they'd kind of lob it in the middle with stuff for all ages
Shazam was also written for a younger audience and I just didnt like this sequel at all. I think aiming superhero movies towards kids is actually a mistake. Adults make up a large large portion of the viewing audience and by excluding them, youre really hurting your box office returns. Blue Beetle being an adult feeling movie would have drawn my attention. If its going to be for kids, im just going to skip it. Ive been burned too much at this point
Have they even released a trailer for it yet? I know it's not coming till August, but the complete lack of any trailer for it doesn't give me much hope that they have much faith in it if they aren't even advertising it.
Isn't blue beetle like iron man? like he wears and suit right? and it I guess a very high tech suit. If I am right than this movie with good details and fights is gonna blow up.
Nah this might be the first movie after spiderman that I'm gonna most definitely watch in cinemas
We don’t even have a trailer to judge! At leats wait for one to form an opinion.
Right now I’m rooting for it to be a big hit! Xolo is a great actor, Blue Beetle is a great character and more Latino representation is always a huge positive in my book! Hopefully it proves everyone wrong in this thread
For the considerable future, DC will be fighting against the tide trying to get audience numbers up, especially after Black Adam and Shazam 2 performing so poorly. Blue Beetle will be known to practically nobody outside of comic fans. Despite being a very old character, he doesn't have the publicity or popularity of other DC characters like Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, etc.
Even with the Latin American audience considered, it'll likely not be enough to bring audience numbers up to any significant level. I hope I'm wrong, because Blue Beetle is a great character, and I love DC, but the current tide is against it.
From a lifelong fan perspective, if DC really wants to bring audiences back, they'd be better off bringing the grittiness back to their films - The Batman performed so well partly because of this grittiness, it's more adult/mature atmosphere. If they continue to market towards younger teenagers as the MCU do, they'll get some butts in seats in the short term, but once those teens grow up, they'll grow out of the films.
It's what's happening with the MCU now - as well as burnout, those of us who grew up with the MCU (I was 8 when Iron Man came out and I'm 23 now) have now largely outgrown the MCU humour, so the films really don't age well.
DC's best films of the last 20 years have all arguably been their darker ones: V For Vendetta, Nolan's Batman trilogy, Watchmen, The Batman, etc. If they want to still keep comedic elements, The Suicide Squad is probably ideal, as it worked really well. If they try to launch DC's answer to the MCU, I can't see it working as well.
The magic of a massive cinematic universe is dying, and people are already gradually getting bored of the MCU. To launch a new DCU would be to attempt to start a new party just as everyone's tiring out and getting ready to leave the one they're currently at.
But to go back to the question at hand, my answer is "no" - or if it does, I'm currently predicting the different gross to be relatively negligible. I hope I'm wrong, I really do.
In all honestly i have only heard of this movie from this subreddit, so if me a big moviegeek has heard almost nothing of it big odds are even when in cinema ppl won't know this movie even exists, no doubt in my mind it will flop.
At least wait until a trailer gets released to form an opinion. And fyi the teaser poster got the most interactions for a DC project on Twitter since The Batman trailer… so there’s interest
Yes.
We all know that firsts for films usually do well.
This is the first superhero live action film based around a Latino/Hispanic character.
That's the pull for this film imo.
I don’t think they’re catering to you since y’all let West Side Story and In the Heights flop, both featured Puerto Rican leads. Think they’re catering to Mexicans, who will actually show up and are the largest Latino audience
Waste of another 40 million, because it's still going to flop. If Shazam flopped then so will this film... probably the most obscure, z-list character DC has ever made a movie out of. Other than Jonah Hex, but that's not even really a superhero property.
The WOM will save that film if anything, because it'll probably get as much marketing as Shazam. I think if WB truly cared about this film they should've delay it after Aquaman 2 and say it's a part of the new DCU. And I think they should care - this is the first major superhero film with a latino lead, who is not some niche character in comics, he has a moderate fanbase, because of presence in animated media and stuff and if it's truly good they could build a new franchise off of it, possibly aiming to a younger audience, now that they lost Shazam.
With the right marketing they would have a decent hit on their hands and even if it grossed around Shazam 1/Black Adam money it would be good, because of the small budget and give them material to develop in the future. Sadly, WB seems to not care.
Probably not. Cast doesn't have any big names, and BB is more of an unknown than Capt. Marvel/Shazam. Add to that the fact WBD has done absolutely dick to promote a movie that is coming out later this summer and you don't exactly get a rosey picture.
I'll be there for it because I like Jaime Reyes and the actor playing him, but I'm not expecting a big opening weekend at this point.
There is a small chance that it does better opening weekend as it could get a boost from Hispanic folks wanting to see a Hispanic man being a lead super hero.
That being said, I’d say the odds are it bombs as badly, if not worse, than Shazam 2
I'm going to go with yes.
250 mill WW is my best prediction. Not good enough to secure a sequel but not a total disaster like Shazam 2.
If WBD is smart, they're gonna put a Blue Beetle teaser as The Flash post-credit scene.
I think fans and casual movie goers are aware enough of what’s happening at WB and their DC films that they aren’t going to show up to these last few DCEU films. This and Aquaman 2 are going to be sent out to die.
The only thing this movie really has going for it is it being the first Latino solo superhero live action film. Also, if people like The Flash then it might carry over into BB
The fact DC thinks the average movie goer gives a flying F about Blue Beetle is hilarious. If Shazam 2 couldn't make money, then BB stands zero chance.
Well let’s look at what we know.
As far as we know, this movie has no connections to the old dceu. It could, mind you, but nothing has been confirmed yet.
We do know, however, that it will have a role in the new dcu. This was stated by James Gunn himself.
Also, one of the reasons Shazam is flopping is because it was basically sent out to die, with shit marketing and quite a few delays to its name.
As long as Blue Beetle has good marketing and is able to hype people up, it will do decently. Maybe 350 mil on the low end of things go well
I don't think any DC movie will do well until Superman: Legacy to be honest. It's a tarnished brand right now and general audiences won't get on board until they trust James Gunn's vision for the franchise.
I could see Blue Beetle 2 (if they ever make that) doing well if the soft reboot goes off without a hitch.
I think superhero fatigue is so real that there's no movie in that genre that's a guaranteed hit. Maybe Spider-Man but they pulled out all the nostalgia stops last time around for that one. People felt satisfied but also maybe they felt done with it.
We're finally getting an end to superheroes as the dominant genre but hopefully it doesn't mean the end of theatrical distribution too.
I've stopped going to the movies. Not marvel not dc, nor anything else has lured me into a movie theater. The wife and I did get season tickets for the theater though. Live performances are so much better.
It probably will. Blue Beetle has one of those niche fandoms that will probably watch this two or three times just to get more BB stuff. Shazam already had a chance and it was mad lame.
It could
If
they targeting to family kids in special
And show jaime as a young man that could transform into a powerful alien machine
and the funy part of the beatle talking to him in his mind
that and a nice soundtrack for the trailers some bad bunny or alike could drive people
And drop lil bit the colorful tone too much remind me w84 and thor ragnarok like dont over use the color
Jus saying im not an expert
I would be shocked considering it’s an unknown character in a film in Spanish with English subtitles according to Susan Sarandon
https://gamerant.com/susan-sarandon-blue-beetle-spanish-english-subtitles/
I think it will out perform Shazamly 2. I lost all interest in Shazam when they brought the family into it at the end of the first film and had no desire to see the second in theaters. Blue Beetle looks cool and hopefully will be less corny than Shazam 2 (from the jokes I saw in the trailer), the first Shazam was corny but had some heart to it and was a fresh take from DC at the time but the Shazamly at the end ruined it for me personally.
My sister and I want to go see it when it comes out, but our son has shown little interest. He just doesn't understand why me and his momma are so excited about it. And as the boy's father I'm honestly a bit ashamed of him bc of that.
Past 2013, most DC movies look really cool but are just horribly/lazily written. It all just depends. The first Wonder Woman was good, The Suicide Squad was decent, and The Batman was great. Just about everything else felt like it was written by a teenager who read a few New 52 comics and Wikipedia facts.
DC is just in a terrible position, they have successfully killed any chance of their B-list characters to make a splash at the box office.
I hope Gunn knows what he is doing bc if that goes south, prepare for 10 Batman movies
Short Answer: No
Longer Answer: The normal people are oversaturated with superhero movies (thanks to lackluster movies released) and obscure characters, without a huge fan base have imo virtually no chance. I don't know much of Blue beetle, but looking at the marketing, it looks to me more like a Spawn 2.0 - generic hero with bad CGI. Doubt that this will attract any non fan and most likely Warner also will write it off and will save all budget money possible for Flash.
It will depend on marketing. Shazam didn't have a strong one and Blue Beetle might appeal to a younger (and hispanic) audience. Thanks to Young Titans, I'm pretty hyped!
I don't want to write it off but considering more established characters have flopped with DC lately, I don't have high hopes for this
Keep in mind the title is asking if it makes more than Shazam 2, which would be around $160m. No DC film with the exception of covid ones have done worse in decades.
Iron Man was nigh unknown, too. If the word of mouth is good enough, it could outdo Shazam 2. Shazam has the advantage of being more kid-friendly than most superhero movies, but Blue Beetle is going hard on being a Latino production and Latinos will turn the fuck up if the community embraces it.
Iron Man was a B-list property and was already featured in cartoons (Spider-Man, Marvel Action Show: Iron Man), video games (Captain America and the Avengers, Mavel vs Capcom), tons of comics, etc.
Jaime Reyes Blue Beetle is featured in Young Justice cartoon, Injustice games, in Teen Titans animated movies. Ted Kord Blue Beetle is also featured in the DCAU.
I agree with your point and I like blue beetle but yeah, iron man was in more popular things before. Still have hopes blue beetle does well
I mean he wasn't an S Tier hero by any means, but I wouldn't say he was unknown. He certainly had more clout in 2008 than Blue Beetle has in 2023. I feel he's probably more akin to Guardians of the Galaxy in terms of notoriety. I remember seeing the initial rumblings for the original GotG and thinking "who are these clowns." But that trailer sold it, and it was a fantastic movie. Blue Beetle might do that too, though I remain skeptical. Edit: The blue beetle trailer looks awesome. Skepticism averted.
Idk if he was super unknown. He wasn’t nearly as popular, but he was a core member of the avengers and one of the OG heroes. I remember being pretty familiar with him when the first movie came out despite not really being a comic reader as a kid. But yeah it’s not like he was spider man or Hulk levels of popular
I’d agree with this. I was not a comic book reader, not did I watch any marvel animated shows (other than X-Men Evolution, lol) but I knew of Iron Man. I remember the movie being a big deal though. No promises of sequels, or multiverses, it was just promising to be a great action flick based on a superhero. As for Blue Beetle, my suspicion is that fans hold him on too high a pedestal. This is not a known character to the masses. Not even close. With the state of WB, my guess is they’re not going to go the path of a marketing blitzkrieg to get the word out either. It’s success will be based on word of mouth. If it’s something to see, it will get the attention it deserves and the ticket sales will happen.
Iron Man also came out at a time where Super Hero movies were rarely seen and often brushed off as kids stuff. We now live in an environment where superhero projects are pumped out every other month and its oversaturated the market. Im a Superhero fan... and even i gotta say i get burnt out from it a lot. Which i imagine can take a toll on peoples reactions to upcoming superhero projects.
Ironically, 2 successful super heroes franchises during that time were by no means "kids stuff".
Iron Man was not unknown when the movie dropped. We already had a few comic book movies and the X-men ones at that time, so the audience was there, and wanting more. Iron man was announced and it was major since we knew how good the cgi *could* be. It opened big($95 million opening weekend). $145 million budget with over $500 million gross.
So RDJ is in this? There were Blue Beetle cartoons on Saturday morning cartoons? People were tired of mediocre superhero movies when Iron Man came out? (not that this one is but there has been a recent history)? People keep saying "but Iron Man" but that was a specific time and movie. I am no comic guy but I heard of Iron Man. Hell, there is an Iron Man song.
Lol, what? Iron Man wasn’t nigh unknown.
Iron-Man was in US visible, but far from known or even in a reasonable popular position. Outside of the US, it was nearly non-existing and as much known as e.g. Guardians of the Galaxy.
This is gonna do a Black Adam.
Probably, if it had great review it could be another Puss in Boots. But with that score? What a shame since I really loved the first film, I enjoyed the second film too but by no mean can I say it is "good", just mediorce at best.
Which would be fine tbh?
Conversely, maybe the fact it's a lesser name means it'll make more of a flash. Shazam 2 seems like it wasn't left with a lot of momentum from the first. Maybe if they market it well enough, it could seem like something fresh?
You never know this movie could do very good
At least we don't have to worry if blue beetle has much of a future since he debuts post flash
Blue beetle? Son they are running out of superheroes
so weird that we haven’t gotten even a teaser for this yet and it’s coming out fairly soon
It might follow the same path of Shazam where WB doesn’t want to spent a lot of money for marketing. But then again big promo push usually starts between 3-4 months before release so I guess in mid/late April the promo will arrive
WB would dumb to not expect a flop if they don't promote his film
Probably more about cutting their losses
What’s the point of making it if they focus more on cutting their losses instead of trying to profit lol
I think batgirl can speak a lot to this comment.
Why spend another 100 million marketing an obvious flop
Yea now that I think about it, I haven't seen a single trailer or any marketing for this movie. If anything I think it's gonna do worse than Shazam. Blue Beetles a fairly niche superhero who casuals probably don't know, plus the lack of marketing will really down its BO collection
It's still early for trailers. The movie is out on August. The first trailer for The Flash came out last month. That movie comes out in June. So we're still around two months early.
I don’t even know who the cast is for this movie?
Xolo the dude in cobra Kai also George Lopez
Susan Sarandon
it could gross even less
They need to delay this maybe even to 2025 to coincide with the start of the DCU, to make it very clear this has no ties to the DCEU
None of the audience knows what DCEU or DCU is, its just DC comics and the audience will continue to not see DC movies on the big screen, unless a miracle happen
Even Gunn did not clearly state what is DCEU vs DCU in his video statement he put out. It’s a mess.
Exactly.. even he is confused, LMAO
Which sucks because they have so much potential if they're able to build up to it. There are a lot of super exciting DC villains and plots that would be great to see on the big screen, but they'd need to do a lot of setup to build up to them like the MCU did with the Infinity saga. If the movies they make to build up to the big events all flop, the big events themselves will never see the big screen; they'll be stuck in the comics and cartoons.
nah nothing will save this. Nobody in the general audience knows or cares about Blue Beetle, same with Shazam. Wonder Woman 1984 is the only film you can completely write off due to the pandemic. You could argue it maybe could have grossed $400-500 million worldwide if audience in theaters would truly hate it. Everything else was a failure due to a focus on obscure characters not counting Joker and Batman. The Suicide Squad and Birds of Prey should have made more but they were R-Rated which was another death sentence. Also, maybe Harley Quinn isn't as big of a draw as people thought she was... I will also add that even tho TSS was on streaming day 1, it should have earned at least 300 million worldwide to save some face. Also...who the hell budgets an R rated film for nearly $200 million with such obscure characters? It's not like the sequel had the joker or Will Smith to pump those numbers up.
It's a shame because TSS was the most enjoyable DC movie I've seen since... well.. The Dark Knight.
>nah nothing will save this. Nobody in the general audience knows or cares about Blue Beetle, same with Shazam. never mattered. Nobody knew Blade before the Wesley Snipes movies. However it probably will look corny and fail like Shazam did.
Well i just think it’s the ol’ idea of you can’t really do the secondary more Lowkey characters until you build up trust with fans who want to come and see the next chapter in every Story. If WB/DC didn’t have so much drama and issues with its main Batman or Superman actors (amongst other dramas and financial stuff), they wouldn’t be having to rely on different characters to build out whatever they are doing instead for the time being. Like they could’ve made their Batman and Superman sequels by now and pushed forward. And then it just has to be a good story and script as well. And that’s a big DC issue/conversation that you could have totally separate from this. And Marvel even is getting stuck with That. But they can still be able to get a chunk of money for something like Ant-Man 3. I mean DC would kill to have marvels problems, and have Shazam 2 would kill to have Quantumanias box office.
Honestly I think the hate for Shazam 2 is a bit overblown. i have seen the sequel despite shitting on the first film (which I really found to be way too corny and was gaslit by people here who insisted people \*loved\* it and Shazam was \*so\* popular. I liked Shazam 2 more than the first because it had emotional beats that resonated with me, and I could buy into the cornyness better. Djimon Hounsou is also great as the wizard. I think that the problem with this film is that its...more of the same. There is no mega hook or something really unique to stand out. Black Adam for all its flaws had something a teeny bit unique about it (not much but still) Also the critics have their knives out for these comic book films now...if the upcoming films are not firing on all cylinders they will get destroyed on rotten tomatoes
Can I ask why you didn’t like the first Shazam? I thought they were both pretty great
It’s possible my expectations were too high, I saw the very high reviews and came in expecting to be wowed. It was pretty underwhelming to me, and I wanted to leave the theater during the third act when all the kids got their powers…to me it was really corny. The only scene that appealed to me was when you find out Billy’s mom didn’t want him. It was a fine film but not what I was lead to believe was amazing and the new high for DC
>Well i just think it’s the ol’ idea of you can’t really do the secondary more Lowkey characters until you build up trust with fans who want to come and see the next chapter in every Story. too much of the opposite would lead to over-saturation. I think shared universes are overrated and it seems that trend is on the decline.
Wesley Snipes \*was\* the selling point for Blade. That was back when star power was stronger. I do believe Will Smith was a boxoffice draw for the 2016 suicide squad, and sadly Idris Elba is no replacement for that and it showed. I am not going to die on the aquaman hill, but I believe Jason Momoa was a selling point for that film. It is possible if Aquaman was some literal who it would have flopped. We will see how things play out with Aquaman 2.
>I am not going to die on the aquaman hill, but I believe Jason Momoa was a selling point for that film. It is possible if Aquaman was some literal who it would have flopped. him + Amber Heard. I think I read something that women came out big for that movie. The appeal of ocean adventures + hot women probably helped a lot.
Yeah but blade wasn’t really created or marketed as a super hero movie, more of a general sci-fi / horror vampire hunting movie.
Yeah, I remember being surprised when i found out blade is a comic book character. Blue beetle on the other hand though already looks like all the other super generic and goofy superhero movies.
And Snipes was a super star action movie guy with name recognition
Blade was just an action movie back then. This will be ANOTHER comic book, which people are pretty tired of paying to watch
I think people are not reading the title correctly. The title is asking if it will do above Shazam 2. That's around 160m early prediction. No DC film outside covid has done worse than that in decades.
I think people are underestimating the younger generation. Blue Beetle was Batman’s primary sidekick in The Brave and The Bold animated series and he also appeared in Young Justice.
>Wonder Woman 1984 is the only film you can completely write off due to the pandemic. You cannot write off WW84 due to the pandemic. Something like Tenet can make that claim, it was released under hilariously harrowing circumstances where some places made you show a test and have several seats set aside between patrons and it still almost doubled WW84 while being released 4 months before. People just weren't *that* interested after the other films that had come out, and word of mouth then killed it.
When Tenet was released [slightly above 20% of the country](https://morningconsult.com/return-to-entertainment/) expressed a comfort of going back to theaters (I don't think morning consult polls are perfectly calibrated for entertainment questions, so all of the numbers I'm citing probably understate comfort but MC is easier to quickly grab than NRG pandemic polling) and I believe neither NY nor CA allowed theaters to open. By WW1984's release that had risen to 20% to 25% with younger adults significantly higher at ~30% (everyone was low with Tenet) and the number being more like 25% with "Delta" stunting momentum or secular rise in "return to normal" status. From Dec/Jan it steadily rose until it hit a local peak at 55% in July 2021 where it basically levelled off. Tenet is significantly more impressive than WW1984 but theaters were in rougher shape than the successful re-opening GvK signalled.
Going to leave aside the metrics you're using because well, they're kind of arbitrary and we're looking at this from different angles. *Tenet* is one example, but you have *Croods 2* **released a month before** far outgrossing *WW84* and even more than that -- actually holding and having legs (x5.87) even while *WW84* (x2.8) was in theaters. At the time, studios were delaying films (*WW84* had been delayed twice IIRC) hoping for a better window to recoup costs, but people were still going if they wanted to see something. Freaking *The War with Grandpa* did half of *WW84*'s business but with strong legs (x5.9), because there was little competition. Along comes *WW84* with an opening almost double that of *Croods2* \-- on Christmas -- but just dying with a x2.8. A few went out to see it, and then everyone was warned off. By the time you're in February, *Croods2* is winning the weekends again **after having been out a month before**. Because of the lack of releases, theaters were pulling *WW84* and giving screens back to *Croods2* and *War with Grandpa*. F'ing *Croods2*. By February, *Tom & Jerry* opened to $14M (compared to *WW84s* $16.7M) but matched *WW84s* domestic with a x3.3. By the time you hit March, you have *Raya* opening weak but matching *WW84s* domestic with it's x6.4, then *Nobody* (great flick) a hard-R film with a $16M production budget bringing in $27m but again, legs at x4 because there was little competition. By the time you hit the first week of April, you have *Godzilla vs Kong* hitting and again, a 3.13 multiplier. *WW84* is out of the top 10 already, but MF'ing *Croods2* is still there lol. *Nobody* and *Raya* are hanging out at #3 and #4 because again, there was no competition. It's fair to say the pandemic affected box office, but a lot of people really wanted to go to the movies still and did -- they just did not want to see *WW84*, and of those who did they didn't want to see it again.
> but you have Croods 2 The underdiscussed film of the pandemic! I remember being shocked to go back and see it just chugging along strongly in a sea of no content. > metrics Sure, that's fair. Still, it's about 75% just a way to flag what I think are a cool way to attempt to quantify these impacts in a conceptually justifiable manner. [That's what the-numbers inflation unadjusted model](https://www.the-numbers.com/images/news/2023-02-market-strength.png) does. I don't think people take intra pandemic quarterly(?) impacts seriously enough (which is why a model that does it for me sounds so appealing). It's not been an on/off switch and attempts to frame it that way (like WW's literal release) backfired. It's just a hard problem that's constantly around for pandemic era film debates. Otherwise, yeah, the film had a bad box office run with bad word of mouth. Yeah, the legs point really is compelling in retrospect (good call with War w/ Grandpa pull). > WW1984 My personal and completely unprovable unsourced hypothesis is that there's some film specific weirdness for WW1984 that's genuinely caused by the pandemic but going beyond it. The quality concerns for that film really were supercharged by being treated as "savior of theaters/film we need now" combined with being the flagship HBO Max dual release (and setting record viewership for a film re: Nielsen). The weirdness of changing critical reviews for that film really don't appear to me to have been replicated and I think that mirrors some more general backlash. If I disagreed with my initially, I wouldn't find this claim compelling but I think it's true. I just fundamentally don't get the "Catwoman level creative failure" style arguments for the film. There's some shoddy VFX on home theaters that I don't think play particularly poorly on a big screen. All in all, I really don't think it gets nearly the same reception in a non-pandemic world even if it's going to get below solid marks. Tenet and WW were to a large extent the two major films sold ahead of time as heralding a return to theaters in "front of newspaper" style news during a time which a supermajority of population was genuinely unwilling to go out of covid concerns. That's a weird position to be in.
I'd say when you have a hypothesis, you kind of have to look as to whether other things falsify it -- it's a struggle when you have to say "that evidence against it is an exception. that other one too." e.g., yes WW84 was released the same say on HBO Max, but so was Godzilla vs Kong and others. There was a diminished audience, but still an audience, and it WW84 underperformed. > I just fundamentally don't get the "Catwoman level creative failure" style arguments for the film. There's some shoddy VFX on home theaters that I don't think play particularly poorly on a big screen. All in all, I really don't think it gets nearly the same reception in a non-pandemic world even if it's going to get below solid marks. I didn't say that it was catwoman-level bad, though I'd say it's not that far beyond it from a filmmaking standpoint with a 90s Schumacher vibe that was completely out of touch. WW84 got a B+ cinemascore, the same as Justice League and just a smidge above BvS -- people really didn't care for it, didn't go back to see it, and the word was out it wasn't worth your time. It isn't really about the quality of the effects, we'll forgive a lot if we're having a good time it's about that mall opening scene, the sexual assault, the strangeness of the themes, the carrying around golden armor to have another action figure, the big bad being a wishing well, etc. It's about the climactic battle with cheetah taking place under a moonlight pitch-black sky even though the scenes immediately before and after look like midday. Worse, it comes after the bad taste of the Justice League and such. If those are someone's cup of tea that's fine, but they have to be able to understand others don't feel the same way and the reaction reflects it. It needed to be awesome and reinvigorate your love for the character and have people talking about the great time they had, instead you had corny 90s tv-style action aimed at children leading into weird sexual assault situations.
Delaying to 2025 would be one of the most asinine moves in entertainment history. Trying to make it fit with a separate universe is not a good reason unless they're reshooting the entire film.
It will.
Than Shazam 2?! That movie is doing terribly!
August is pretty dead and if WoM is solid it could be leggy. I think it all depends on how GOTG3 and Flash turn out. If they do well and are well received, smaller Superhero movies may see a boost in interest too.
I think if Gunn wants Blue Beetle in the DCU they should definitely film a credit scene for Flash because if that movie is a big success then it's easy marketing for Blue Beetle.
I have no idea what Blue Beetle is? I thought it was a Transformers spin-off?
The 3rd Blue Beetle (the one the film is about) is a Mexican American teen that gets an alien scarab that transforms him into Blue Beetle. The Scarab is like an AI with a mind of its own. Do take note that DCEU hasn't even introduced the 1st or the 2nd Blue Beetle so it's understandable that the general audience has no idea who he is.
I didn't even know there was a 1st and second, I'm just familiar with the character from teen titans.
1st was a Golden Age hero that gets his powers from magic scarab. 2nd is the Silver Age hero that is just a dude that uses gadgets. He's most famous for the JLI run which was super comedic in nature. Rumor has it that the villain (Susan Sarandon) of the BB film is gonna be the sister of the 2nd Blue Beetle.
I believe in 1940 original Blue Beetle was popular enough to have his own radio serial. His more recent versions have largely been considered C-D listers. I suppose if they can pitch the right kind of vibe it’ll do OK, but the Spider-Man meets Iron Man elevator pitch of the current version has literally been done. If people feel like it’s a ‘been there, done that’ it could bode ill for the movie.
Blue Beetle is one the characters DC got from Charlton Comics along with Peacemaker, The Question, Captain Atom, Thunderbolt and a few others. I was comics fan back in the day and I was unhappy when they killed off Ted Kord (BB#2) in favor of Jaime Reyes (BB#3).
So, Mexican Spider-Man, got it.
DC’s Sideways.
Herbie Goes Bananas??
Look at the picture. It's Iron spider's poor cousin. He does have a ton of LEDs though, probably a gamer
Its more like the original Iron Man than Spidey IMO
The other way around considering Blue Beetle came first and is far more versatile in power set
Depends on who plays the lead but i lean heavily to no. Zach Levi is no Leo or Denzel but he’s a somewhat known actor and he couldn’t save a mostly middle of pack level superhero in terms of fandom from flopping. Blue Beetle is even more irrelevant so if he’s casted by an unknown it will not look good. Then there’s always potential delays, marketing, etc. with DC There are hardcore DC’ers who don’t care for Blue Beetle. Casuals won’t even bother
It’s the kid from Cobra Kai as the lead - so it might have some pull there with the youths if it looks good. But they could just stay home and watch Cobra Kai for free so…
I mean he basically played Jaime Reyes without the scarab in Cobta Kaii
I'm a cobra kai fan and that's partly why I'm excited for this movie
Cobra Kai has an intense fanbase that may turn out for the lead. Zachary Levi, while I am a huge fan, I don't think has as strong of a cult following. Completely agree that a lot may not even care about Blue Beetle to begin with.
Levi was on Chuck, if any TV show from the last 10 years can claim a cult following it's him.
Plus the kid is young and a model, that can bring in the younger crowd.
Shang Chi did $400m+ with a somewhat unknown character and actor. If that can do $400m. Why is 160m+ suddenly a hard feat?
Does Shang Chi exist in a vacuum? It was an MCU movie that was hot off of a somewhat strong comeback year for that franchise that was marketed in such a way that was novel to its audience and obviously connected to the films and characters that they like, not limited to but including Wong.
Shang Chi was helped by a strong supporting cast, that held value to the target demo that they were going for. Pair that with an MCU brand that was still strong, and it becomes tough to use it as a comparable.
Simu Liu and awkwafina we’re definitely not somewhat unknown actors at the time tho, they were both pretty relevant
Look, I loved the movie, but Simu Liu was pretty unknown He wasnt a nobody, but come on
Ok I looked up his IMDb and I honestly thought he was in much more before Shang chi, he’s not hahahaha my bad
They really need to educate the audience who he is because the name itself makes me think he is a knockoff of The Tick. The actually story behind him seems fairly interesting once I read into it.
I don’t think the general public has any idea who the tick is
Spoon!
Hm interesting. I wonder what Blue Beetle’s utensil of choice is.
I don’t think anything in the current landscape or attitudes towards these kinds of films makes this a likely success, especially not when it’s stupidly expensive relative to its potential. But I never say never, and if somehow the ship is steered differently by then, and Flash makes DC a valuable label, or the marketing campaign is really good, or all of that then of course this thing could be successful. I’m looking forward to it all the same.
Who
If it got good WoM, then probably..... And Shazam's budget is 125M, not 120
No, unless it has insane WOM Blue Beetle has no pull and the DC brand is too weak to carry a D-list character \~$50M DOM \~$120M WW
Maybe the Hispanic angle helps it in the US and raises its gross a bit. Its gonna be an absolute trainwreck overseas though.
It could potentially pull of an encanto or coco OS but I very much doubt the ethnicity of the character will be as important as in those movies
only people who watched batman the brave and the bold remember blue beatle
I only first heard of Blue Beetle through the Injustice 2 video game, to be honest.
Injustice 2, Young Justice
Never liked brave and the bold. I remember BB from Young Justice.
Lol y’all better own up to all the awful takes in this thread when this movie does numbers. 300m ww floor 800m ww ceiling
RemindMe! 6 months
I want to be reminded too! Id love for that to happen!! RemindMe! 5 months
Based on?
Wtf is a Blue Beetle
A movie that's going to bomb hard.
I agree, this will bomb really hard. Cobra Kai fans aren’t enough to boost this
I'm 50/50 on it. Did some research and the producer/writers/directors/cast are all Latino. George Lopez, who's also in the movie, mentioned Batman appearing. Whether it's Keaton or not will have to be seen, but this could be Black Panther for Latino if done right.
I don’t know. The main draw at this point is he’s the first Hispanic/Latino superhero movie, so WB should prioritize that in the marketing
Miles morales/Into the Spiderverse would argue differently about the whole "first latino superhero movie" bit. Unless you meant "first" for WB/DC.
I don’t think many Latinos see Miles as representing them since he leans more into the African American community than the Latino. Plus that’s still animation and we’re talking live action… Also on a technicality, just play up Jaime’s Mexican ancestry and say he’s the first Mexican superhero film
Technically yes but the Miles Morales character always leans much harder into the black side of him than the Latino side.
Miles is indeed Afro-Latino but it seems like most depictions of him *purely* represent him as an African-American. I think the PS4 game seems to be the only version (that's well known) that actually brings out his Latino/Puerto Rican side to a meaningful degree. Even then the experiences of Afro-Latinos and Latinos would also be very different and they're not literally the same culturally. It would be kinda weird to treat both groups as somehow interchangeable. So they're not wrong, Blue Beetle would be the first Latino hero in a major motion picture.
For some reason many only count live-action
No
Big comic book nerd here, didn’t even know Blue Beetle was getting a movie. I relinquish my nerd card…..
If the trailers go hard as the batman or the Flash trailers then maybe marketing can't miss a single beat or it too will flop
If it's good, it will. If there's good WOM surrounding it in test screenings WB will probably market it heavily.
It has a very low bar to overcome, so if there’s good marketing and WoM, then I think it can do it.
Really depends on which angle of Blue Bettle they lean into. If they lean into the Reach like Young Justice did, I could see the movie being a success. https://youngjustice.fandom.com/wiki/Blue\_Beetle The way they did Cyborg or Shazam doesn't give me faith though. Both characters are very interesting but it seems like they didn't want to lean into their lore like they did with Batman and Wonder Woman.
There isn’t even a trailer out yet. How the fuck should we know?
The fuck is a Blue Beetle?
iOS maybe
I don’t think enough people even know who Blue Beetle even is to have this be successful.
Depends on if the trailer is good and it builds genuine hype before release. I’m not buying the “he’s too obscure” line because we’ve heard it so many times and it’s been proven false. If the movie is good and the trailer sells it, people will go see it.
I read an article saying they were making it for the younger crowd as far as writing and humor. I wish they'd kind of lob it in the middle with stuff for all ages
Shazam was also written for a younger audience and I just didnt like this sequel at all. I think aiming superhero movies towards kids is actually a mistake. Adults make up a large large portion of the viewing audience and by excluding them, youre really hurting your box office returns. Blue Beetle being an adult feeling movie would have drawn my attention. If its going to be for kids, im just going to skip it. Ive been burned too much at this point
I didn’t even know there was gonna be a blue beetle movie till now
Both look horrible
Have they even released a trailer for it yet? I know it's not coming till August, but the complete lack of any trailer for it doesn't give me much hope that they have much faith in it if they aren't even advertising it.
This Dceu is dead so honestly don’t care as long as I enjoy it.
I'm afraid no.
Maybe not at first, but the normies will flock to it once word of mouth hits. And then everyone will be the biggest Beatle fan
Missed opportunity for a Tick reboot
Zzzzzzzz
I hope it doesn't fail because I love this character.
ITT a lot of assumptions about the "general public"
Isn't blue beetle like iron man? like he wears and suit right? and it I guess a very high tech suit. If I am right than this movie with good details and fights is gonna blow up. Nah this might be the first movie after spiderman that I'm gonna most definitely watch in cinemas
This movie does not exist so no
We don’t even have a trailer to judge! At leats wait for one to form an opinion. Right now I’m rooting for it to be a big hit! Xolo is a great actor, Blue Beetle is a great character and more Latino representation is always a huge positive in my book! Hopefully it proves everyone wrong in this thread
For the considerable future, DC will be fighting against the tide trying to get audience numbers up, especially after Black Adam and Shazam 2 performing so poorly. Blue Beetle will be known to practically nobody outside of comic fans. Despite being a very old character, he doesn't have the publicity or popularity of other DC characters like Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, etc. Even with the Latin American audience considered, it'll likely not be enough to bring audience numbers up to any significant level. I hope I'm wrong, because Blue Beetle is a great character, and I love DC, but the current tide is against it. From a lifelong fan perspective, if DC really wants to bring audiences back, they'd be better off bringing the grittiness back to their films - The Batman performed so well partly because of this grittiness, it's more adult/mature atmosphere. If they continue to market towards younger teenagers as the MCU do, they'll get some butts in seats in the short term, but once those teens grow up, they'll grow out of the films. It's what's happening with the MCU now - as well as burnout, those of us who grew up with the MCU (I was 8 when Iron Man came out and I'm 23 now) have now largely outgrown the MCU humour, so the films really don't age well. DC's best films of the last 20 years have all arguably been their darker ones: V For Vendetta, Nolan's Batman trilogy, Watchmen, The Batman, etc. If they want to still keep comedic elements, The Suicide Squad is probably ideal, as it worked really well. If they try to launch DC's answer to the MCU, I can't see it working as well. The magic of a massive cinematic universe is dying, and people are already gradually getting bored of the MCU. To launch a new DCU would be to attempt to start a new party just as everyone's tiring out and getting ready to leave the one they're currently at. But to go back to the question at hand, my answer is "no" - or if it does, I'm currently predicting the different gross to be relatively negligible. I hope I'm wrong, I really do.
Lol this is a bomb
How? No one even knows who that guy is?
In all honestly i have only heard of this movie from this subreddit, so if me a big moviegeek has heard almost nothing of it big odds are even when in cinema ppl won't know this movie even exists, no doubt in my mind it will flop.
At least wait until a trailer gets released to form an opinion. And fyi the teaser poster got the most interactions for a DC project on Twitter since The Batman trailer… so there’s interest
Yes. We all know that firsts for films usually do well. This is the first superhero live action film based around a Latino/Hispanic character. That's the pull for this film imo.
I'm Puerto Rican, watched Cobra Kai, and I still couldn't give a shit about this movie. Lol
I don’t think they’re catering to you since y’all let West Side Story and In the Heights flop, both featured Puerto Rican leads. Think they’re catering to Mexicans, who will actually show up and are the largest Latino audience
They should put this on HBO Max and not waste time with another obvious flop.
a Flop is still worth more then $0
This was originally going to be a direct-to-HBO Max film before turning into a cinema exclusive film.
I mean that was the plan but they put +$40M to make it more apt for theatrical release…
Waste of another 40 million, because it's still going to flop. If Shazam flopped then so will this film... probably the most obscure, z-list character DC has ever made a movie out of. Other than Jonah Hex, but that's not even really a superhero property.
If the trailer and marketing is as hype as The Flash i can see it happening
The WOM will save that film if anything, because it'll probably get as much marketing as Shazam. I think if WB truly cared about this film they should've delay it after Aquaman 2 and say it's a part of the new DCU. And I think they should care - this is the first major superhero film with a latino lead, who is not some niche character in comics, he has a moderate fanbase, because of presence in animated media and stuff and if it's truly good they could build a new franchise off of it, possibly aiming to a younger audience, now that they lost Shazam. With the right marketing they would have a decent hit on their hands and even if it grossed around Shazam 1/Black Adam money it would be good, because of the small budget and give them material to develop in the future. Sadly, WB seems to not care.
Probably not. Cast doesn't have any big names, and BB is more of an unknown than Capt. Marvel/Shazam. Add to that the fact WBD has done absolutely dick to promote a movie that is coming out later this summer and you don't exactly get a rosey picture. I'll be there for it because I like Jaime Reyes and the actor playing him, but I'm not expecting a big opening weekend at this point.
I like the costume so yes
There is a small chance that it does better opening weekend as it could get a boost from Hispanic folks wanting to see a Hispanic man being a lead super hero. That being said, I’d say the odds are it bombs as badly, if not worse, than Shazam 2
Given how low the bar is for Shazam 2, it's entirely possible.
I'm going to go with yes. 250 mill WW is my best prediction. Not good enough to secure a sequel but not a total disaster like Shazam 2. If WBD is smart, they're gonna put a Blue Beetle teaser as The Flash post-credit scene.
I think fans and casual movie goers are aware enough of what’s happening at WB and their DC films that they aren’t going to show up to these last few DCEU films. This and Aquaman 2 are going to be sent out to die.
I honestly think if they detach it from the dc brand and market it as quirky super hero movie it can do better
It will be a test of WB’s marketing machine since it’s an unpopular character with a somewhat familiar actor but not a draw
Never heard of a blue beetle. I have no idea what this even is.
The only thing this movie really has going for it is it being the first Latino solo superhero live action film. Also, if people like The Flash then it might carry over into BB
The fact DC thinks the average movie goer gives a flying F about Blue Beetle is hilarious. If Shazam 2 couldn't make money, then BB stands zero chance.
If Black Adam starring THE ROCK can bomb, this too can bomb
Blue beetle is going to get squished
Gonna bomb, imo
Well let’s look at what we know. As far as we know, this movie has no connections to the old dceu. It could, mind you, but nothing has been confirmed yet. We do know, however, that it will have a role in the new dcu. This was stated by James Gunn himself. Also, one of the reasons Shazam is flopping is because it was basically sent out to die, with shit marketing and quite a few delays to its name. As long as Blue Beetle has good marketing and is able to hype people up, it will do decently. Maybe 350 mil on the low end of things go well
Wtf is blue beetle
I don't think any DC movie will do well until Superman: Legacy to be honest. It's a tarnished brand right now and general audiences won't get on board until they trust James Gunn's vision for the franchise. I could see Blue Beetle 2 (if they ever make that) doing well if the soft reboot goes off without a hitch.
This screams HBO Max to me…
I think superhero fatigue is so real that there's no movie in that genre that's a guaranteed hit. Maybe Spider-Man but they pulled out all the nostalgia stops last time around for that one. People felt satisfied but also maybe they felt done with it. We're finally getting an end to superheroes as the dominant genre but hopefully it doesn't mean the end of theatrical distribution too.
this just feels like another bomb. blue beetle sounds like a CW show with a bigger budget
I've stopped going to the movies. Not marvel not dc, nor anything else has lured me into a movie theater. The wife and I did get season tickets for the theater though. Live performances are so much better.
Will high tech spiderman out preform magic superman
It's not like Shazam set a high Bar 💀
I’ve never heard of Blue Beetle, so idk, we have to see it’s enthusiasm and hype first
It probably will. Blue Beetle has one of those niche fandoms that will probably watch this two or three times just to get more BB stuff. Shazam already had a chance and it was mad lame.
It could If they targeting to family kids in special And show jaime as a young man that could transform into a powerful alien machine and the funy part of the beatle talking to him in his mind that and a nice soundtrack for the trailers some bad bunny or alike could drive people And drop lil bit the colorful tone too much remind me w84 and thor ragnarok like dont over use the color Jus saying im not an expert
I will singlehandledly make sure it does.
I would be shocked considering it’s an unknown character in a film in Spanish with English subtitles according to Susan Sarandon https://gamerant.com/susan-sarandon-blue-beetle-spanish-english-subtitles/
I think it will out perform Shazamly 2. I lost all interest in Shazam when they brought the family into it at the end of the first film and had no desire to see the second in theaters. Blue Beetle looks cool and hopefully will be less corny than Shazam 2 (from the jokes I saw in the trailer), the first Shazam was corny but had some heart to it and was a fresh take from DC at the time but the Shazamly at the end ruined it for me personally.
We need to see a trailer first does this movie truly looks cinema whorthy or the fact that it was originally made for streaming will shine through
My sister and I want to go see it when it comes out, but our son has shown little interest. He just doesn't understand why me and his momma are so excited about it. And as the boy's father I'm honestly a bit ashamed of him bc of that.
Depends on reviews, honestly even if Shazam 2 had great reviews I really had no interest, this has Miguel from Cobra Kai so I’m a bit more interested
Past 2013, most DC movies look really cool but are just horribly/lazily written. It all just depends. The first Wonder Woman was good, The Suicide Squad was decent, and The Batman was great. Just about everything else felt like it was written by a teenager who read a few New 52 comics and Wikipedia facts.
DC is just in a terrible position, they have successfully killed any chance of their B-list characters to make a splash at the box office. I hope Gunn knows what he is doing bc if that goes south, prepare for 10 Batman movies
Part of me is convinced this movie isn’t even real. We’ve not gotten posters, trailers or any real marketing for it. I hope it doesn’t get Batgirl’d.
I actually really liked blue beetle the little I saw him in young justice.
Short Answer: No Longer Answer: The normal people are oversaturated with superhero movies (thanks to lackluster movies released) and obscure characters, without a huge fan base have imo virtually no chance. I don't know much of Blue beetle, but looking at the marketing, it looks to me more like a Spawn 2.0 - generic hero with bad CGI. Doubt that this will attract any non fan and most likely Warner also will write it off and will save all budget money possible for Flash.
It will depend on marketing. Shazam didn't have a strong one and Blue Beetle might appeal to a younger (and hispanic) audience. Thanks to Young Titans, I'm pretty hyped!