‘Barbie’ unseated at box office

NEW YORK (AP):

The DC superhero film Blue Beetle led weekend ticket sales with an estimated $25.4 million, according to studio estimates, dethroning Barbie from the top spot after a record-setting run that left movie theatres coloured pink for a month.

The Barbie phenomenon is far from over, however. Greta Gerwig’s film, which earlier this week became the highest-grossing Warner Bros. release ever domestically, nearly managed to stay No. 1 again with $21.5 million in its fifth weekend.

And the other half of Barbenheimer also continues to perform remarkably well for a movie so far into its run. Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer took in $10.6 million in its fifth week. With a $285.2 million domestic total, Oppenheimer now owns the distinction of being the biggest box-office hit to never land No. 1 at the weekend box office.

Oppenheimer has done even better overseas. Its global gross stands at an estimated $717.8 million through Sunday.

Blue Beetle came in on the lower side of already modest expectations, notching one of the lower debuts for a DC Comics movie. Though earlier planned as a streaming-only release, Warner Bros. elected to put Blue Beetle, starring Xolo Maridueña as the first DC movie to star a Latino superhero, into theatres in the late summer, a typically quiet period at the box office.

But it also faced some tough luck, and not just the unexpected staying power of Barbie and Oppenheimer. Southern California was bracing Sunday for Hurricane Hilary, potentially dampening ticket sales in the region. And like recent releases, Blue Beetle didn’t have its cast available to promote the movie due to the ongoing actors strike.

Universal’s raunchy R-rated canine comedy Strays showed even less bite. The film, with a voice cast including Will Ferrell and Jamie Foxx, landed in fifth place with $8.4 million. Comedies have generally struggled in theaters in recent years, but Strays had it particularly rough given that its starry cast was unavailable.