Even though there are still six and a half weeks to go until it releases, the odds are already stacked against Blue Beetle breaking out from the pack and ensuring 2023 doesn’t go down as DC’s worst-ever year at the box office.
Shazam! Fury of the Gods came along and landed with a thud to wind up as one of the superhero genre’s biggest-ever flops, before The Flash ended up outdoing it on every level to run up a loss that could extend as high as $200 million when the dust has settled and the numbers are crunched.
The former was the sequel to one of the franchise’s best-reviewed and most profitable installments, whereas the latter was a multiversal epic that roped in faces from the past, present, and future of DC’s back catalogue, and yet they both ended up bombing to a horrendous degree.
Blue Beetle has none of those aforementioned traits, and Warner Bros. hasn’t been doing it any favors by letting the marketing campaign go stagnant for so long, with a meme about avocados swiftly being followed by the debut of a brand new trailer on the very same day Wonka was hoovering up all the headlines and buzz.
On the plus side, doubling down on his previous statement that Jaime Reyes will be a part of the rebranded DCU, James Gunn took to Threads and clarified it yet again by noting that “Blue Beetle & a handful of other legacy characters will continue on in the DCU, even though the first DC Studios movie is Superman: Legacy.”
Of course, Blue Beetle could end up becoming a certified smash hit, but it’s got a mountain to climb to achieve it based on recent history.
