It is no wonder that the DCU is getting rebooted. Outside of The Batman, which doesn't even take place in the same continuity as the rest of the franchise, the series has released one dog after another since their last true success in Aquaman in 2019. At a time when even a second-tier MCU movie like Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania can break $200 million without breaking a sweat, the fact that the DCU high-water mark of the last four years has been Black Adam's $168.2 million is downright embarrassing.
The latest DCU film to meet with indifference is Blue Beetle, which to be fair, is about a decidedly minor superhero in the greater DC universe. Starring the mostly unknown Xolo Maridueña, any hopes that this might launch a new series was dashed when it opened to only $25 million. To be fair, reviews have been better than expected, and audience reaction has been pretty good, so this could develop some late summer legs. But it is still most likely that the film will be best remembered as the title that knocked Barbie off the top of the chart.
After four weeks on top, the pink queen slips to #2 this week, with a still-solid $21 million. It has grossed an outstanding $566.8 million, just below The Super Mario Bros. Movie. Barbie is likely to eclipse Mario by next weekend. The doll is still ahead in total grosses from where Top Gun: Maverick was at this point in its run last year, but is now grossing less per weekend, suggesting that $700 million for Barbie, while still doable, might be beginning to slip out of reach. It's a lock for $600 million, though.
Oppenheimer lost many of its IMAX screens to Blue Beetle this weekend, which lead to a sizable fall for the drama, as it took in $10.7 million. Its total is now up to $285.4 million, and it should become only the seventh R-rated movie to pass the $300 million by Labor Day.
In fourth, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Meyham continues to head toward $100 million, as it brought in another $8.5 million for a total of $88.2 million. It should be over the century mark in the next couple of weeks.
This has not been a great summer for R-rated comedy, as No Hard Feelings did decent-but-hardly-remarkable business and Joy Ride crashed and burned. There was some hope that releasing Strays, a talking dog movie that is most definitely not for kids, in the same corridor that turned two prior R-rated comedies that could pass for family-friendly fare, Sausage Party and Good Boys, into hits might mean that the magic might work again. Nope. Strays opened to a dismal $8.3 million, and seems likely to be gone by early September.
Meg 2: The Trench continues to run well below the previous Meg, as it chomped on $6.8 million for a gross of $66.6 million, a gross that might be more appropriate for the two films directly below it on the chart.
Talk to Me continues to be the late summer horror sleeper, as the thriller scared up another $3.1 million for a total of $37.3 million. That's enough to be the 5th highest-grossing A24 title ever (ahead of such films as Moonlight, Midsommar, and Ex Machina) and has Hereditary in its sights to become the highest-grossing A24 horror film ever.
Even though it has grossed over $20 million more, Talk to Me is a solid hit while Haunted Mansion is a summer flop. The horror-comedy could only come up with $3 million for a total of $58.9 million. It is still running almost exactly even with the 2003 version, which is not an enviable position to be in.
Rounding out the Top 10, Mission: Impossible-Dead Reckoning Part 1 is limping toward the finish line, taking in $2.7 million for a total of $164.6 million. Meanwhile, the much cheaper (and much more controversial) Sound of Freedom is also wrapping up its run with $2.6 million, for a total of $177.8 million.
Outside the Top 10, The Last Voyage of the Demeter could only pull in $2.5 million in its second week, for a ten-day total of $11.4 million.
With Blue Beetle being a relatively weak #1, there are three movies gunning to take it down this weekend. The most likely title to prevail is Gran Turismo, which is not an adaption of the classic racing game, but instead the dramatization of a true story where a superfan of the game (Archie Madekwe, best known for being one of the unfortunate tourists in Midsommar) gets the opportunity to become a real race car driver. Orlando Bloom and David Harbour co-star. Also opening is Liam Neeson's latest Old Man of Action thriller, Retribution, in which he must figure out who has rigged a bomb in his car that will go off if he gets out, and The Hill, a Christian baseball biopic starring Dennis Quaid, with a plot that sounds rather similar to Quaid's own The Rookie. Also returning to theaters for its 30th anniversary is Jurassic Park. Could Gran Turismo drive to the top? Could Blue Beetle continue to be in the black? Could Barbie sashay her way back to #1? We'll find out next week.
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