Blue Beetle Is Premiering To Empty Movie Theaters
Despite high praise from critics’ first reviews and early predictions suggesting Blue Beetle would be performing well at the box office, the new DC film seems to be opening to empty movie theaters. Though the film’s budget is significantly lower than other recent DC outings such as Shazam: Fury of the Gods and The Flash, these empty theaters seem to be putting fans and studio heads alike on edge, fearing that the film could potentially bomb.
Blue Beetle is getting praise from critics and fans that have seen it, but as X users found out, pre-sales are distressingly low.
The film, which premiered August 18 was expected to perform well, reaching similar box office figures to Shazam: Fury of the Gods, at a much lower price point to produce. Of course, early ticket sales for Blue Beetle are threatening to make this estimation fall short, with X (formerly Twitter) users posting laughable screenshots of their local theater’s ticket availability. Some film fanatics even took screenshots of the nearly empty movie theaters as an opportunity to crack a few jokes at the film’s expense.
It seems a bit shocking that Blue Beetle is seeing such poor figures for its opening night, considering the droves of fans who have been lauding the film on the internet in previous weeks for the spectacular cast, family themes, and fresh cultural perspective.
The film, which touts a mostly Latino cast, stars Xolo Maridueña, Yuli Zorilla, Gabriella Ortiz, Raoul Max Trujillo, Bruna Marquezine, iconoclast comedian George Lopez, and What We Do In The Shadows‘ Harvey Guillén, according to IMDb.
While some social media users jested at the state of the DCU’s earnings this year, suggesting Blue Beetle may cost the studio significantly more than they stand to make on the new film, others found a great deal of unintentional comedy from theater maps displaying single seats purchased.
While Blue Beetle still has an opportunity to thrive from word of mouth following early showings, it seems clear that the film’s first weekend may be facing disaster in a number of markets.
Of course, these maps only account for fans who purchase their seats online in advance, failing to factor in any audience members who arrive at the theater to purchase tickets from the box office sales desk.
Unfortunately for DC, this doesn’t seem to be an isolated incident, as many X users shared similar screenshots showing fully empty or nearly empty theaters. While Blue Beetle still has an opportunity to thrive from word of mouth following early showings, it seems clear that the film’s first weekend may be facing disaster in a number of markets.
Even social media users attempting to come to Blue Beetles‘ aid had trouble finding many positive results to display in favor of the film’s opening weekend. Some tried to find screenshots that show more than a single seat taken for the film but failed to locate any indication of a packed theater.
Following three straight bombs from DC, audiences are being cautious and not pre-ordering Blue Beetle tickets.
This seems to follow recent box office trends, which have seen a significant downturn in attendance for comic book movies, impacting film franchises in both DC and Marvel.
Blue Beetle is currently available in a wide theatrical release in theaters around the globe. If you’re a superhero fan excited to see what James Gunn has planned for one of his first major outings in the newly formed DC Universe, or you need some secluded alone time, get tickets to a theater near you.
