Blue Beetle Takes Down Barbie With a Not-So-Super $25.4 Million Weekend Box Office Victory

Barbie’s four-week streak atop the domestic box office has come to an end as DC’s Blue Beetle has claimed the top spot. Unfortunately, it did so with not-so-super ticket sales of $25.4 million in North America.

As reported by Comscore, Blue Beetle brought in another $18.0 million overseas for a worldwide total of $43.4 million in 64 markets.

Blue Beetle’s domestic opening was weaker than The Suicide Squad’s $26.2 million, Shazam! Fury of the Gods’ $30.1 million, and Birds of Prey’s $33.0 million. It surpassed Wonder Woman 1984’s $16.7 million, but that film was released during the COVID-19 pandemic and was also available on HBO Max on launch day.

In our Blue Beetle review, we said, “Under Ángel Manuel Soto’s direction, Blue Beetle is a superhero movie that sets itself apart within the bloated genre through the deeply connected bonds of Jaime and the Reyes family.”

Hopefully, the good buzz of the film will bolster its box office run so it can recoup its over $100 million budget before marketing. There is also a bit of confusion surrounding this movie that may be impacting things, as it is both part of the ending of the DCEU and the beginning of the DCU as Blue Beetle is the first DCU character, according to James Gunn.

As for Barbie, it continues to excel in its fifth weekend in theaters with $21.5 million in North America and $26.7 million internationally. That accounts for only a 36% drop week-over-week domestically, which shows there are still plenty of people flocking to the theaters to see the Greta Gerwig-directed and Margot Robbie-led film. Worldwide, Barbie is sitting at $1.26 billion.

Oppenheimer took third place in its fifth weekend with $10.6 million domestically and $32 million internationally. Globally, Oppenheimer has reached $717.84 million.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem took the fourth spot with $8.43 million and crossed $118.43 million worldwide, and Strays rounded out the top five with $8.3 million in its debut.

In our Strays review, we said, “After years of warm-and-fuzzy movies about warm-and-furry friends, the talking-dog genre gets a raunchy R-rated parody, with Will Ferrell as an abandoned terrier plotting revenge on his dirtbag owner (Will Forte) with the help of some fellow canines voiced by Jamie Foxx, Isla Fisher, and Randall Park.”

For more, check out our explainer of Blue Beetle’s ending and how Blue Beetle gets Latinos right.

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Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.