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'Blue Beetle' beats 'Barbie' in N.America box office

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Agence France-Presse

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="" Blue="" is="" this="" box="" office="" king.="" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2023/overseas/08/21/blue-beetle.jpg"/><figcaption>&quot;Blue Beetle&quot; is this week&#x27;s box office king. <em>Handout</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>LOS ANGELES, United States - It was a good news/bad news weekend for &quot;Blue Beetle,&quot; the latest superhero film to hit North American theaters and the first built around a live-action Latino protagonist.</p><p>The DC Studios/Warner Bros. production topped the charts for the Friday-through-Sunday period and even dethroned &quot;Barbie,&quot; that reigning queen of pinkness, industry watcher Exhibitor Relations said Sunday.</p><p>But its estimated take of $25.4 million was &quot;the lowest DC superhero debut of this era&quot; other than 2021&#x27;s money-losing &quot;Wonder Woman 1984.&quot;</p><p>&quot;Beetle&quot; stars 22-year-old American actor Xolo Mariduena -- who is of mixed Mexican, Cuban and Ecuadoran descent -- as a new college graduate whose body is taken over by the mysterious Scarab, which gives him superhuman powers.</p><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4smbJ1NQEmw?enablejsapi=1" width="560"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div><p>Analyst David A. Gross said that while ticket sales for &quot;Beetle&quot; were only a third the average for new superhero flicks, reviews have been good and overseas prospects are strong.</p><p>&quot;Barbie,&quot; in its fifth week out, scored $21.5 million in ticket sales, &quot;a huge result at this point in its theatrical run,&quot; according to Variety. The Warner Bros. fantasy-comedy has now taken in an eye-popping $1.27 billion globally.</p><p>In third, also in its fifth week out, was Universal&#x27;s &quot;Oppenheimer,&quot; at $10.6 million. The historical drama about the origins of the first atomic bomb has passed the $700 million mark globally.</p><p>Fourth place went to Paramount&#x27;s animated &quot;Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem,&quot; at $8.4 million. Its huge voice cast includes Maya Rudolph, Ayo Edebiri, John Cena, Jackie Chan, Ice Cube and Paul Rudd.</p><p>And in fifth was Universal&#x27;s new talking-dog comedy &quot;Strays,&quot; at $8.3 million, a concerning start for a movie made on a $46 million budget.</p><div><strong>Rounding out the top 10 were:</strong></div><p>&quot;Meg 2: The Trench&quot; ($6.7 million)</p><p>&quot;Talk to Me&quot; ($3.2 million)</p><p>&quot;Haunted Mansion&quot; ($3 million)</p><p>&quot;Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One&quot; ($2.7 million)</p><p>&quot;The Last Voyage of the Demeter&quot; ($2.5 million)</p><div><strong>bbk/md</strong></div><div><strong>© Agence France-Presse</strong></div>