10 Upcoming Movies That Are Definitely Going To Bomb
2. Blue Beetle
Along with the aforementioned Gran Turismo, Blue Beetle is another likely casualty of that packed 2023 summer movie season.
We've got Fast X, Across the Spider-Verse, Transformers, The Flash, Indy 5, Mission Impossible, Oppenheimer, The Marvels, and The Meg 2 (and that's not even everything), so can this incredibly obscure DC hero carve out enough real estate to make his $100 million movie a worthwhile investment for the studio?
Sadly, we don't think so. At $100 million, Blue Beetle will need to go well past $200 million in order to turn a profit, and with the hero's C-list status and the general lack of buzz around this adaptation, the project is already fighting an uphill battle.
There's also the fact that it was originally intended to go straight to HBO Max, bypassing a theatrical release entirely. One of the reasons the Batgirl movie was recently cancelled was because, per Variety, it was "designed to be watched on television," so it lacked the set pieces and bombast that would make it a must-see big-screen experience. With Blue Beetle also being developed for TV (at least, initially), there's a chance that it might also feel unworthy of the multiplex, which won't exactly help its box-office numbers.
The DCEU's history with mid-budget releases is also decidedly lacklustre, with both Shazam and Birds of Prey not exactly lighting the box-office on fire. Lesser-known characters have a tougher time over at DC because their movies lack the interconnected storytelling of the MCU, which gives every single Marvel release that must-see factor - and Blue Beetle is about as "lesser-known" as it gets.