2023 superhero film by Ángel Manuel Soto
Blue Beetle is a 2023 American superhero film based on the DC Comics character Jaime Reyes / Blue Beetle. Directed by Ángel Manuel Soto and written by Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer, it is the 14th film in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU). Xolo Maridueña stars as Reyes, a recent college graduate who is granted superpowers by an ancient alien relic known as the Scarab. Adriana Barraza, Damián Alcázar, Raoul Max Trujillo, Susan Sarandon, and George Lopez also star in the film. John Rickard and Zev Foreman produced the film for DC Films and Warner Bros. Pictures.
Development of a film featuring the Jaime Reyes version of Blue Beetle began by the end of November 2018, with Dunnet-Alcocer attached as screenwriter. Soto was hired to direct the film in February 2021 for the streaming service HBO Max. Maridueña was cast that August, and the film was changed to have a theatrical release in December. Further casting took place in early 2022, and filming lasted from late May to mid-July at Wilder Studios in Decatur, Georgia, as well as in El Paso, Texas, and Puerto Rico. It is the first live-action superhero film with a Latino lead.
Blue Beetle premiered in El Paso on August 14, 2023, and was released in the United States on August 18. The film received generally positive reviews from critics and became the most-watched film on the streaming service Max (formerly HBO Max) in the United States. Nevertheless, the film underperformed at the box office, grossing $130.8 million worldwide against a production budget of $104–125 million, which made it the lowest-grossing film in the DCEU. Its box office performance was attributed to factors such as the 2023 Hollywood labor disputes, the franchise's imminent reboot with the DC Universe (DCU), and Hurricane Hilary. An animated follow-up series set in the DCU is in development.
Plot summary adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.