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IT was a good news/bad news weekend for ‘Blue Beetle’, the latest superhero film to hit North American theaters and the first built around a live-action Latino protagonist.
The DC Studios/Warner Bros production topped the charts for the Friday-through-Sunday period and even dethroned ‘Barbie’, that reigning queen of pinkness, industry watcher Exhibitor Relations said on Sunday.
But its estimated take of US$25.4 million (RM118.12 million) was "the lowest DC superhero debut of this era" other than 2021's money-losing ‘Wonder Woman 1984’.
‘Beetle‘ 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.
Analyst David A Gross said that while ticket sales for ‘Beetle’ were only a third the average for new superhero flicks, reviews have been good and overseas prospects are strong.
‘Barbie’, in its fifth week out, scored US$21.5 million in ticket sales, "a huge result at this point in its theatrical run," according to Variety. The Warner Bros fantasy-comedy has now taken in an eye-popping US$1.27 billion globally.
In third, also in its fifth week out, was Universal's ‘Oppenheimer’, at US$10.6 million. The historical drama about the origins of the first atomic bomb has passed the US$700 million mark globally.
Fourth place went to Paramount's animated ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem’, at US$8.4 million. Its huge voice cast includes Maya Rudolph, Ayo Edebiri, John Cena, Jackie Chan, Ice Cube and Paul Rudd.
And in fifth was Universal's new talking-dog comedy ‘Strays’, at US$8.3 million, a concerning start for a movie made on a US$46 million budget.
Rounding out the top 10 were:
‘Meg 2: The Trench’ (US$6.7 million)
‘Talk to Me’ (US$3.2 million)
‘Haunted Mansion’ (US$3 million)
‘Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One’ (US$2.7 million)
‘The Last Voyage of the Demeter’ (US$2.5 million) – AFP, August 21, 2023
