Graphic by Cameron Harbridge
It finally happened. This weekend’s box office found “Barbie” out of the No. 1 spot for the first time in four weeks.
The new DC release “Blue Beetle” stole the No. 1 spot with a $25 million opening weekend. Despite this, the film still failed to meet expectations. “Blue Beetle” arrived with the second-worst domestic opening weekend of the DC superhero franchise, known formerly as the DC Extended Universe (DCEU). This is nothing new for DC this year with underperformances from both “Shazam! Fury of the Gods” and “The Flash.”
James Gunn, director of Marvel hit trilogy “Guardians of the Galaxy”, and producer Peter Safran were brought to DC to right the sinking ship of the DC superhero universe. The duo took over DC Studios on Nov. 1, 2022 and have since unveiled plans to reimagine the DCEU as something new altogether, the DC Universe.
“Barbie” had a short fall to the No. 2 position with a $21.5 million weekend. The film has become the 15th-highest grossing film of all time, surpassing films like “The Dark Knight” and eight of the 10 “Star Wars” films.
“Oppenheimer” continues to stay in tandem with “Barbie”, moving to the No. 3 spot with an $11 million weekend. Its worldwide gross is just over $700 million, with nearly $300 million of that coming domestically.
The No. 4 spot is “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem” with an $8.5 million weekend. “Strays” debuts at the No. 5 spot. This film about dogs taking revenge on their old owners pulled in $8 million domestically and only $2 million internationally in its opening weekend.
An interesting entry in this weekend’s box office was the 20th anniversary re-release of Park Chan-wook’s “Oldboy.” It has made nearly $1 million upon its re-release last Wednesday in 250 theaters domestically.
SZNS MAG 