Weekend Numbers (actuals) | Aug 18 - 20 | 25.0M BLUE BEETLE | 21.1M BARBIE

[JustLurking]

4 minutes ago, ChipDerby said:

What's irritating to me, is all we've heard for years is "stop casting minority actors in white roles for the sake of diversity!" And now there's a legitimate minority superhero and nobody supports it. It's extremely annoying.

Aside from the fact that I don't personally subscribe to that narrative, let's be honest, the problem isn't the race of the lead, the DCEU brand is just poison and needs a reboot yesterday

 

if this had a white lead it would've done no different, people simply do not care. superhero films are no longer guaranteed slam dunks and the DCEU might as well be a walking bomb label. the brand is simply in no position to launch an unknown superhero.

[ChipDerby]

7 minutes ago, DisposedData said:

Yeah from the most damaged brand in all of media. It's kind of insulting that latinos are expected to prop this film up to success. It wasn't succeeding under any circumstance.

 

I never pointed at Latinos for not supporting it. Nobody seems to be. And who gives a shit what "brand" it's from. DC released an Oscar nominated film and one of the better comic book films of all time in the last 4 years.

[Rocketracoon]

Curious as to why It seems Shazam 2 is going to end up having a bigger IM then Blue Beetle despite seemingly having worst Audience reception 

[ringedmortality]

3 minutes ago, Rocketracoon said:

Curious as to why It seems Shazam 2 is going to end up having a bigger IM then Blue Beetle despite seemingly having worst Audience reception 

 

March vs Summer perhaps

[AMC Theaters Enjoyer]

Blue Beetle is a victim of bad timing. It’s followed several disappointing DC movies, which is already gonna create hesitation from audiences. Then you add on the actors not able to promote the movie (for a good reason) and you got an insane mountain for it to climb.

 

I’ve felt for a while, particularly after Flash, that this film’s biggest priority is making sure the response from those who see it is good, so it helps build back trust and interest for Both for the general DC brand and for more appearances of the character.  

[Human]

1 hour ago, El Gato said:

That’s horrendous! Maybe they should have just kept it to streaming. DC as a brand is extinct! 
 

Also this is like the 5th Latino led film to underperform in the last few years (Encanto, ITH, WSS, Rise of the Beasts and now Blue Beetle). Guess Latino leads are just box office poison xD

It means you cannot base a marketing campaign on it, since they are not one giant group who go to the movies together.  

[ringedmortality]

3 minutes ago, AMC Theaters Enjoyer said:

I’ve felt for a while, particularly after Flash, that this film’s biggest priority is making sure the response from those who see it is good, so it helps build back trust and interest for Both for the general DC brand and for more appearances of the character.  

 

Not sure that's important. Blue Beetle was always too niche of a character, not to mention Aquaman comes out after this and from everything we know about it it's terrible, and there's a reboot just around the corner for the franchise. A movie getting middling reviews and a probable A- cinemascore wouldn't even make a dent on DC's reputation.

[Giorno]

1 hour ago, El Gato said:

That’s horrendous! Maybe they should have just kept it to streaming. DC as a brand is extinct! 
 

Also this is like the 5th Latino led film to underperform in the last few years (Encanto, ITH, WSS, Rise of the Beasts and now Blue Beetle). Guess Latino leads are just box office poison xD

Encanto came out at a time when covid was still severely limiting families and disney put it on streaming after like 30 days

ITH had no chance with COVID

WSS was thrown to the wolves vs NWH and Omicron raging

 

RoTB did solidly well for a movie with okay reception and damaged brand + china no longer subsidizing blockbusters

 

BB had no marketing campaign and is part of a dead brand 

 

I would not say Latinos are poisons at leads based on those examples 

[The GOAT]

What kind of storylines would you like to see in superheroes movies to make them more intriguing?

It certainly feels like they've ran out of ideas because except for the Flash and Infinity War/Endgame, it's the same movie 100 times over. 

[ringedmortality]

1 minute ago, The GOAT said:

What kind of storylines would you like to see in superheroes movies to make them more intriguing?

 

Something more philosophical like Alan Moore's Swamp Thing or Alan Moore's Superman. Basically just Alan Moore.

[El Gato]

2 minutes ago, Giorno said:

Encanto came out at a time when covid was still severely limiting families and disney put it on streaming after like 30 days

ITH had no chance with COVID

WSS was thrown to the wolves vs NWH and Omicron raging

 

RoTB did solidly well for a movie with okay reception and damaged brand + china no longer subsidizing blockbusters

 

BB had no marketing campaign and is part of a dead brand 

 

I would not say Latinos are poisons at leads based on those examples 

What I’m getting is that we get the scraps of Hollywood… DC, Transformers, and musicals. 
 

at least there’s Jenna and Melissa carrying the Scream franchise! Marvel needs to give me that Namor film already! I need more Tenoch in my life 

[Arlborn]

1 hour ago, El Gato said:

I think DC is pretty much a dead brand and the only character they have that can sell is Batman. They should just focus on creating a BCU because nobody care about the other characters 

Why do people speak as if a Superman movie has never made loads of money and had a big cultural impact, as if a Wonder Woman movie has never made a shit-load  of money and had an actual impact as well and as if Aquaman hasn’t made loads of money either and wasn’t big among women?

 

Revisionism sucks.

[The Wild Eric]

1 minute ago, Arlborn said:

Why do people speak as if a Superman movie has never made loads of money and had a big cultural impact, as if a Wonder Woman movie has never made a shit-load  of money and had an actual impact as well and as if Aquaman hasn’t made loads of money either and wasn’t big among women?

 

Revisionism sucks.

This El Gato fellow does this a lot. I remember him shouting that Aquaman's middling opening, despite being fine enough for December, was a sign that DC was doomed forever and that it was all Snyder's fault. So this has been a very frustrating pattern of this that has gotten pretty darn old if you ask me. Hopefully he'll realize his schtick has gotten old and tired sooner rather than later.

[grumpythepenguin]

1 hour ago, El Gato said:

I think DC is pretty much a dead brand and the only character they have that can sell is Batman. They should just focus on creating a BCU because nobody care about the other characters 

 

They're already making a BCU. Matt Reeves is overseeing it. The Batman (and its sequel) are part of it. The Penguin miniseries is expected in 2024 (unless the strikes delay it), with Reeves producing. There's also an Arkham Asylum series that Reeves is writing and potential projects around Scarecrow, Clayface, and Professor Pyg.

 

It was actually revealed today that the Blue Beetle director Angel Manuel Soto pitched a Bane series as part of it: "And I’ve always wanted to explore the origin story of Bane. It’s super intriguing, especially where he comes from and the different topics that could be explored if we take into consideration that maybe he’s the hero of his own story. So it was very interesting to be able to talk about situations that have affected the Caribbean and Latin America for centuries through the character of Bane."

[El Gato]

13 minutes ago, AMC Theaters Enjoyer said:

Blue Beetle is a victim of bad timing. It’s followed several disappointing DC movies, which is already gonna create hesitation from audiences. Then you add on the actors not able to promote the movie (for a good reason) and you got an insane mountain for it to climb.

 

I’ve felt for a while, particularly after Flash, that this film’s biggest priority is making sure the response from those who see it is good, so it helps build back trust and interest for Both for the general DC brand and for more appearances of the character.  

well at least those who have seen it like it and now the character isn’t niche! Have a feeling it’s going to be popular on Max but I’d rather it go to Netflix to get the character more exposure (plus Cobra Kai is on Netflix) 

[vale9001]

Imo even for Marvel is not easy anymore to launch new not very famous characters. A new Ant man this year for me would have made less than Quantumania WW, that already made less than the first movie.

Shazam would probably have made like just not that much more than the sequel from chapter One. Something in the middle, like 200 M.

[ZeeSoh]

20 minutes ago, Rocketracoon said:

Curious as to why It seems Shazam 2 is going to end up having a bigger IM then Blue Beetle despite seemingly having worst Audience reception 

We don’t even have Friday numbers yet so it is premature to say it will have a worse IM than Shazam 2 at this point. But if it does one reason for that would be that IM’s in summer are usually lower than during other times of the year since schools and colleges are on vacation so more people can go watch it on Thursday than otherwise. 

[The Wild Eric]

I will say however that I do feel WB is to blame for Blue Beetle's opening, because they barely did a thing to advertise it. Even before the SAG strikes happened, they basically gave the film the table scraps of their marketing budget in favor of The Flash and Barbie. I saw more advertising done by fans of the Blue Beetle character than the actual conglomerate that has more money than God. I've never seen something like this before with a big movie like this.

 

It's frankly so scummy to put all the marketing stops, with major press and industry screeenings and forcing Tom Cruise and Stephen King, to say ultra-positive things and hype the movie up as the second coming, over a film starring a known abuser and asshole and a bunch of deepfake cameos of dead people, and then ditch your better-reviewed movie starring a POC lead.

 

I obviously don't think it would have opened like crazy, but I see no reason to think you couldn't have given us a solid 45M opening with stronger advertising and a "representation matters" hook towards the most active moviegoing audience. It's also way cheaper than Flash too, so an opening on that level was a way better investment, especially if this is supposed to tie into the new Gunn universe.

 

It's like those WB execs want to fail. Sheer idiocy.

[redfirebird2008]

20 minutes ago, Eric Reyes said:

I will say however that I do feel WB is to blame for Blue Beetle's opening, because they barely did a thing to advertise it. Even before the SAG strikes happened, they basically gave the film the table scraps of their marketing budget in favor of The Flash and Barbie. I saw more advertising done by fans of the Blue Beetle character than the actual conglomerate that has more money than God. I've never seen something like this before with a big movie like this.

 

It's frankly so scummy to put all the marketing stops, with major press and industry screeenings and forcing Tom Cruise and Stephen King, to say ultra-positive things and hype the movie up as the second coming, over a film starring a known abuser and asshole and a bunch of deepfake cameos of dead people, and then ditch your better-reviewed movie starring a POC lead.

 

I obviously don't think it would have opened like crazy, but I see no reason to think you couldn't have given us a solid 45M opening with stronger advertising and a "representation matters" hook towards the most active moviegoing audience. It's also way cheaper than Flash too, so an opening on that level was a way better investment, especially if this is supposed to tie into the new Gunn universe.

 

It's like those WB execs want to fail. Sheer idiocy.

Meanwhile Warner spent a ton of money advertising Barbie when that movie had a massive built-in audience and would have been very successful even with a much smaller marketing budget. 

[ringedmortality]

22 minutes ago, Eric Reyes said:

and a "representation matters" hook towards the most active moviegoing audience.

 

Outside of Black Panther and Captain Marvel has that strategy ever worked?