Blue Beetle Movie

[Beantownbrown]

Ben Affleck's Batman Removal Rumor Gets Called Out by James Gunn

[bat39]

I just watched it and I loved it!

I mean, I loved The Flash as well, so that's not saying much! But Blue Beetle was refreshing. Not a sequel. Not a high-stakes multiversal crisis movie loaded with nostalgia bait. Just a nice, straightforward film with a decent soundtrack, some compelling characters, great visuals and even a bit of socio-political depth that doesn't come across as forced!

This movie will probably not do too well at the box office because a of a variety of factors (the strikes, poor perception of the DCEU brand, the streaming vs. theatre debate etc.). But its a film that definitely deserved to have done well, moreso than The Flash or Shazam! Fury of the Gods. Well, at least the Latino aspect will guarantee it a cult status - I do hope it gains a cult status among the larger DC fanbase as well.

Anyway, Gunn seems to have committed to Xolo's Blue Beetle staying in his new DCU, so look forward to more from Jaime, Jenny and the whole family!

Also, just putting this out there, but I had a wild theory...

spoilers:

Is Ted Kord's wife/lover and Jenny's mother supposed to be Beatriz da Costa AKA Fire? Jenny's Brazilian, like Fire was. I'm not very familiar with Fire though, beyond the fact that she was in the JLI with Ted...I don't even know if they were ever romantically linked in the comics.

end of spoilers

While I understood the complaint from a critic POV or a non-comics fan POV, I never understood why comics fans would complain about superhero origin movies.

Like half the fun of being a superhero fan is learning how they got their powers, suits, tech, or other abilities and what drives their initial motivation to become a hero.

Yeah, I don't get that criticism at all. Like, I get it for Batman - the Waynes getting murdered in that alleyway has practically become a meme. I totally get people not wanting to see it with Spider-Man again back in 2017, just five years after Webb's TASM.

But this is a totally 'new' (for the big-screen) character who's not that well-known outside of the comics and maybe fans of some DC animated projects (like the BatB cartoon). Why wouldn't he have an origin story? And if it all feels too 'familiar'...well, a lot of movies feel like previous movies! Entire genres are built on that kind of thing. The key to a movie's success is often whether or not its able to bring a freshness to the familiar beats, which I think Blue Beetle definitely does.

[Tien Long]

Hi all. I posted this over at the Blue Beetle Appreciation Thread at the DC boards. I'm posting it here too. Here are my thoughts. Be warned, THERE ARE SPOILERS!










I liked it. Xolo is just a really cool dude, you can't help cheer for him. I agree with what some reviewers have said, Blue Beetle was just as much about Jaime's family as it was about him. They were the supporting character in all of this. The scene between Jaime and his father resonated a lot with me.

I appreciated the Latin culture in all of this. The film reminded me of the experiences that many of my students and past co-teachers have had. At the same time, I drew a lot of parallels with my Filipino/Chinese background as well. I teared up a bit with the shrine to the Virgin Mary (also Lady of Guadalupe?). My mom has that too. As a history teacher, I wringed my hands when I saw the background of Carapax. He is the result of what the United States had done in Latin America. Just very tragic and his backstory sticks with me the most. Finally, I geeked out seeing some of these actors. Sure, I'm a huge Cobra Kai fan so Xolo was awesome. But Xolo's mom was played by THE Elpidia Carrillo, the actor who played Anna in Predator! So cool!

Part of me feels like there could have been more of a connection between Jennifer and Jaime's family. Now, we all know she was accepted by the family throughout the movie. Awesome that Jennifer and Jaime hook up at the end. But as someone who's really fascinated by cross-cultural mingling, especially among Latinos, I wanted to see more of Jennifer's Brazilian side interact with Jaime and his family. I think there was a scene, especially on the bug ship, where you somewhat saw Jennifer understand the Spanish. I would have liked to see that more explicitly shown. It would have been cool to see more scenes of Jennifer understanding what the family was saying and vice versa. Maybe Jennifer speaks in Portuguese with the family as they speak to her in Spanish. Again, it was cool as it was, but I feel more could have been displayed.

As a Ted Kord fan, I appreciated how they respected Ted, especially with all of his gadgets and tech. I hope that he does show up!

For me, the weakest parts were the action scenes. They were cool, but a little unclear. Also, the princers on the back were distracting.

Overall, yeah, this movie was fun. Wouldn't mind seeing it again.

[bat39]

Hi all. I posted this over at the Blue Beetle Appreciation Thread at the DC boards. I'm posting it here too. Here are my thoughts. Be warned, THERE ARE SPOILERS!










I liked it. Xolo is just a really cool dude, you can't help cheer for him. I agree with what some reviewers have said, Blue Beetle was just as much about Jaime's family as it was about him. They were the supporting character in all of this. The scene between Jaime and his father resonated a lot with me.

I appreciated the Latin culture in all of this. The film reminded me of the experiences that many of my students and past co-teachers have had. At the same time, I drew a lot of parallels with my Filipino/Chinese background as well. I teared up a bit with the shrine to the Virgin Mary (also Lady of Guadalupe?). My mom has that too. As a history teacher, I wringed my hands when I saw the background of Carapax. He is the result of what the United States had done in Latin America. Just very tragic and his backstory sticks with me the most. Finally, I geeked out seeing some of these actors. Sure, I'm a huge Cobra Kai fan so Xolo was awesome. But Xolo's mom was played by THE Elpidia Carrillo, the actor who played Anna in Predator! So cool!

Part of me feels like there could have been more of a connection between Jennifer and Jaime's family. Now, we all know she was accepted by the family throughout the movie. Awesome that Jennifer and Jaime hook up at the end. But as someone who's really fascinated by cross-cultural mingling, especially among Latinos, I wanted to see more of Jennifer's Brazilian side interact with Jaime and his family. I think there was a scene, especially on the bug ship, where you somewhat saw Jennifer understand the Spanish. I would have liked to see that more explicitly shown. It would have been cool to see more scenes of Jennifer understanding what the family was saying and vice versa. Maybe Jennifer speaks in Portuguese with the family as they speak to her in Spanish. Again, it was cool as it was, but I feel more could have been displayed.

As a Ted Kord fan, I appreciated how they respected Ted, especially with all of his gadgets and tech. I hope that he does show up!

For me, the weakest parts were the action scenes. They were cool, but a little unclear. Also, the princers on the back were distracting.

Overall, yeah, this movie was fun. Wouldn't mind seeing it again.

Well, there's only so much they could put into a 2 hr film but yeah, if the film had been about 10 minutes longer a little more of Jenny mingling with the Reyes would have been nice. Perhaps this is one of the things that can be explored further in a sequel...

And yeah, the respect for Ted Kord was one of my favorite parts of the film! Films starring legacy characters often tend to ignore, if not erase, the predecessors. (Or, as was the case with Captain Marvel, gender-bend them and strip them of their superhero identity). Ant-Man was one big exception to this trend on the Marvel side, and I'm glad to say that Blue Beetle is now a big exception on the DC side. The fact that an article about Dan Garett is one of the first things we see in the opening credits also really symbolizes the respect for the Blue Beetle legacy - a legacy which, in real-world publishing terms, is about as old as Batman's!

[Ramsay Snow]

I went in thinking the movie would probably suck, due to DC's track record and the trailers not being that great......I loved the movie, I thought it was better than Aquaman & The Snyder Cut, which are really the only other connected-universe movies I liked by DC.

Xolo was great, George Lopez did a good job, it was an engaging storyline with a lot of heart, and it never went too ridiculous (aside from Xolo's mom & uncle being able to fly Ted Kord's ship). Where Black Adam gave us eye-rolling, in-your-face dialog about the Middle East being exploited by the US & co, Blue Beetle did somewhat the same thing but with a slight bit of subtlety.

I look forward to a sequel, and for Jaime Reyes to appear in other DC films. Since marketing for the film was fairly poor, I'm hoping word of mouth gives this film the box office results it deserves.

On a side note, the only negative aspect of the film, in my opinion, was the surprisingly wooden performance by Susan Sarandon.

[Beaubier]

I liked it but I didn’t love it. Xolo was perfect, and the family dynamic was the best part of the movie. I really liked the way Palmera City looked - futuristic and neon lights, and the soundtrack was great. Also really liked all of the Ted Kord gadgetry. What brought it down for me were some worn out tropes and the paper thin villain and hammy performance by Sarandon. Overall though I hope to see more Jaime Reyes in future films.

[Gaastra]

And beetle does not get the predicted $30m but underperforms at $25m. On one plus side beetle did knock barbie out of first so it has that.

“Blue Beetle” has dethroned “Barbie” at the domestic box office. The latest DC superhero adventure claimed the No. 1 spot despite a softer-than-expected debut of $25.4 million.

“Barbie” landed on her feet on second place with $21.5 million from 4,003 theaters, a huge result at this point in its theatrical run. After five weeks of release, Greta Gerwig’s fantasy-comedy has generated $567 million and will soon overtake Universal’s animated “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” ($574 million) as the biggest domestic release of the year.

“Blue Beetle” cost more than $100 million to produce and many millions more to promote, so it’ll need to defy the box office odds to justify its price tag. Reviews and word of mouth may not do much to fill seats; the film has a “B+” CinemaScore and 77% on Rotten Tomatoes.

It’s the third DC film in 2023 to tumble out of the gate after “Shazam: Fury of the Gods” ($30.1 million in March) and “The Flash” ($55 million in June). A fourth DC adaptation, “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom,” is slated to release in December. Even 2021’s “The Suicide Squad,” which debuted simultaneously in theaters and on HBO Max, enjoyed a bigger start with $26.2 million. But that film, as well as “Shazam 2” and “The Flash,” which flopped in their theatrical runs, were based on higher-profile characters compared to Blue Beetle. Directed by Ángel Manuel Soto, the film centers on college graduate Jaime Reyes, who gets chosen to become a symbiotic host to an ancient alien biotech relic that turns him into the superhero known as Blue Beetle.

https://variety.com/2023/film/box-of...ie-1235700676/

[Valentis]

Another DC flop. This franchise needs to rest for ten years.

[Ramsay Snow]

Another DC flop. This franchise needs to rest for ten years.

lol, if you say so. Blue Beetle is actually pretty good.....It has a lot of issues going against it. Piss-poor marketing, the writers' strike, and the fact that the DCEU had 6 films in a row that were complete crap (Birds of Prey, WW84, The Suicide Squad, Black Adam, Shazam 2, The Flash). A lot of people aren't giving Blue Beetle a chance because of this......And for me it would be 7 films in a row, as I didn't like the first Shazam, but it seemed like Shazam 1 had a little bit of popularity.

I know people in real life (including Hispanics) who were surprised when I told them Blue Beetle was great. The general consensus is they're tired of watching mediocre DC films and didn't think it would be any good.....The nail in the coffin was the WW84/Black Adam/Flash triumvirate. I thought the first Wonder Woman film was average, but a lot of people liked it. The sequel was downright horrible. Then we have The Rock hyping up Black Adam, and it was a dud. Then there's the whole Flash debacle.

Joker & The Batman were both excellent films, but that just has the general public thinking Batman films are more likely to be good and other DC films are likely to be crap.

[skyvolt2000]

Another DC flop. This franchise needs to rest for ten years.

You the mean the company NOT Blue Beetle who is just NOW getting his first movie.

And where was the promotion for this movie???

Yesterday marked the FIRST time I saw Blue Beetle movie toys. Since when do we put them on shelves the WEEK of the movie coming out? Everyone else does that 4-10 weeks beforehand.

I am in one of the largest cities in the USA-unless you were a comic book fan-you didn't know about this movie.

I have to ask this 30 minutes of previews including The MARVELS, Barbie and TMNT. Not one ad for anything related to DC.


This was the FIRST DC movie I saw in theaters. I actually like it.

The general consensus is they're tired of watching mediocre DC films and didn't think it would be any good.....The nail in the coffin was the WW84/Black Adam/Flash triumvirate.

This.

I saw WW84 from checking it out from my library. These is NO excuse for a Wonder Woman movie to be in theaters about WISHES. Animated WW sure but not live action.

[Ramsay Snow]

You the mean the company NOT Blue Beetle who is just NOW getting his first movie.

And where was the promotion for this movie???

Yesterday marked the FIRST time I saw Blue Beetle movie toys. Since when do we put them on shelves the WEEK of the movie coming out? Everyone else does that 4-10 weeks beforehand.

I am in one of the largest cities in the USA-unless you were a comic book fan-you didn't know about this movie.

I have to ask this 30 minutes of previews including The MARVELS, Barbie and TMNT. Not one ad for anything related to DC.


This was the FIRST DC movie I saw in theaters. I actually like it.

Yeah, DC dropped the ball with Blue Beetle. Combined with the writers' strike, it seems like they were going to write BB as a loss and didn't really bother with it. Pretty crazy.

I think I remember you being in the Dallas area. I'm in the DFW metroplex, also, and a Hispanic coworker went to see the film opening night and he said only 10 ppl were in there and he was the only Latino, lol. He said the others were all white.....I went Saturday around noon and the theater was half-full.

And some of the people I've talked to about Blue Beetle are the usual, people who watch superhero films but don't read comics. When I asked them if they watched Blue Beetle, they asked, "Is this a superhero film? Is he from a comic?" ......Forget marketing the film to the Latino community like Disney marketed Black Panther to the black community. People in general know nothing about this film because it just wasn't pushed, lol.

I also have a cousin who goes to every superhero & sci-fi movie opening night. He didn't bother seeing Blue Beetle because he assumed it would suck. He was surprised when I texted him saying it was great.

This.

I saw WW84 from checking it out from my library. These is NO excuse for a Wonder Woman movie to be in theaters about WISHES. Animated WW sure but not live action.

Gaastra has said in a few posts that Blue Beetle was a streaming/TV movie pushed to theaters. No, Blue Beetle is cinema-worthy.....WW84 should've been relegated to streaming. I feel sorry for anyone who wasted their time and money going out to the theater to see that one.

[choptop]

lol, if you say so. Blue Beetle is actually pretty good.....It has a lot of issues going against it. Piss-poor marketing, the writers' strike, and the fact that the DCEU had 6 films in a row that were complete crap (Birds of Prey, WW84, The Suicide Squad, Black Adam, Shazam 2, The Flash). A lot of people aren't giving Blue Beetle a chance because of this......And for me it would be 7 films in a row, as I didn't like the first Shazam, but it seemed like Shazam 1 had a little bit of popularity.

I know people in real life (including Hispanics) who were surprised when I told them Blue Beetle was great. The general consensus is they're tired of watching mediocre DC films and didn't think it would be any good.....The nail in the coffin was the WW84/Black Adam/Flash triumvirate. I thought the first Wonder Woman film was average, but a lot of people liked it. The sequel was downright horrible. Then we have The Rock hyping up Black Adam, and it was a dud. Then there's the whole Flash debacle.

Joker & The Batman were both excellent films, but that just has the general public thinking Batman films are more likely to be good and other DC films are likely to be crap.

I don't think any of the DC movies are really bad They are all OK to really good but there's just to much stigma no one is going to give DC a chance anymore maybe 10 years is a little much but it does need a rest maybe 6 or 7 years focus on the batman 2 and 3 and Joker 2and 3 in those 7 years than try again.

[Maestro 216]

I don't think any of the DC movies are really bad They are all OK to really good but there's just to much stigma no one is going to give DC a chance anymore maybe 10 years is a little much but it does need a rest maybe 6 or 7 years focus on the batman 2 and 3 and Joker 2and 3 in those 7 years than try again.

DC doesn't have seven years. People hyping up superhero fatigue will be validated with a hiatus like that.

[choptop]

DC doesn't have seven years. People hyping up superhero fatigue will be validated with a hiatus like that.

Marvel is going to put out 1 movie a year at least for the next 7 years I'm sure other comic book companies will toss there hat in the ring dc will continue with tv shows and animated movies im sure batman 2 and 3 and Joker 2 and 3 will be hits WB dc will be fine just like they were between 1997 and 2005.

[kidfresh512]

DC has ruined fans expectations and ability to "give a film a chance" right now and see things non Batman related opening weekend. The big thing here marketing and the dual strikes imo. People need to actually see these actors. Who are they are they funny, charismatic, the usual press junkets and funny quotes or clips for social media they cannot do them.

Sometimes those interactions with the cast the jokey interviews the magazine covers, instagram outtakes from the set and backstories those are lost here. Xolo Maridueña should be pushed on all the usual sites as an up and coming star etc. But he cant be people don't even know his name really. You would have to be really trying to know who they are right now. And that is a huge marketing issue when you are pushing a lesser known character.

Especially coming off a string of studio disappointments where people feel like they have wasted money seeing these films and don't give the benefit of the doubt anymore. Word of mouth will get me to see this on streaming eventually. But DC has to for me personally earn back my day 1 dollars in a theatre.

All of us on this site, on this forum, on this thread are way more plugged in than the average movie goer. So the marketing has to be to get those people who are just average people looking for entertainment and been disappointed with what they got the past few DC releases particularly.