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# 'Blue Beetle' bests 'Barbie'
- URL: https://www.theomnicosm.com/the-box-office-report-blue-beetle/
- Published: 2023-08-21T14:34:25.000Z
- Updated: 2024-01-19T16:06:55.000Z
- Description: Thanks to positive reviews, the latest DC superhero film scored the No. 1 spot while 'Barbie' and 'Oppenheimer' remained strong.
- Author: Bill Kuchman
- Tags: Popculturology • The Box Office Report, Popculturology, Blue Beetle, DC Studios

Hello! Welcome to **The** **Box Office Report** for the weekend of Aug. 18-20, 2023.

## 1\. Blue Beetle

**Weekend gross:* $25.4M* 
**Total domestic gross:* $25.4M* 
**Last weekend:* New release* 
**Percent drop:* NA*

After a four-weekend reign, *Barbie* no longer stands at the top of the box office. *Blue Beetle*, Warner Bros.’ soft launch of its new **James Gunn**\-led cinematic universe, claimed the No. 1 spot this weekend.

*Blue Beetle*’s box office victory likely wouldn’t have happened in previous weekends against Barbie. A $25.4 million debut ranks between the *Wonder Woman 1984*’s $16.7 million opening and *The Suicide Squad*’s $26.2 million opening — and both of those films were pandemic era releases that were also available on HBO Max.

♥️

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## 2\. Barbie

**Weekend gross:* $21.5M* 
**Total domestic gross:* $567.1M* 
**Last weekend:* 1st* 
**Percent drop:* 36*

*Barbie* finished in second place this weekend (only missing a fifth weekend at No. 1 by $4 million), but **Greta Gerwig**’s film has a ton to be proud of. It’s Warner Bros.’ biggest domestic box office haul, passing the $533.7 million grossed by *The Dark Knight*. It currently sits at No. 15 on the all-time domestic chart, less than $10 million away from passing *The Super Mario Bros. Movie*. And it’s made more than $1.2 billion worldwide.

## 3\. Oppenheimer

**Weekend gross:* $10.6M* 
**Total domestic gross:* $285.2M* 
**Last weekend:* 2nd* 
**Percent drop:* 44*

*Oppenheimer* should become **Christopher Nolan**’s biggest non-Batman hit as a director sometime Monday or Tuesday. The $292.6 million grossed by *Inception* will be no match for the power of this biopic.

♥️

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## 4\. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem

**Weekend gross:* $8.4M* 
**Total domestic gross:* $88.1M* 
**Last weekend:* 3rd* 
**Percent drop:* 45*

Over the past week, *Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem* jumped past the domestic box office haul of every *Ninja Turtles* movie except 1990’s *Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles* and **Michael Bay**’s 2014 reboot. *Mutant Mayhem* has a long way to go before passing either of those film’s — the original film grossed $135.3 million and the reboot grossed $191.2 million — but it should easily become just the third *Ninja Turtles* movie to crack the $100 million mark in North America.

## 5\. Strays

**Weekend gross:* $8.3M* 
**Total domestic gross:* $8.3M* 
**Last weekend:* New release* 
**Percent drop:* NA*

*Strays* wound up being a mere $153,722,044 short of being the biggest opening weekend of **Will Ferrell**’s career. So close.

*Box office numbers via* [*The Numbers*](http://www.the-numbers.com/?ref=theomnicosm.com) *based on Sunday estimates.*

## Next weekend

*Gran Turismo* should be able to take the top spot in next weekend’s box office race. Both *Barbie* and *Blue Beetle* will probably fall in the $10 million-$15 million range, giving *Gran Turismo* an open shot at No. 1.

That’s the end of this edition of ****Popculturology**. Thanks for reading the newsletter. If you already are a subscriber, ****please consider becoming a supporter** by [upgrading your account](https://www.theomnicosm.com/#/portal/).