Superhero vs. style icon: 'Blue Beetle' goes on a $30 million hunt to topple 'Barbie' from her throne

According to Variety, "Blue Beetle" is expected to gross between $25 million and $32 million in its debut weekend, which is double early projections.

Here's What We Know

"Blue Beetle" is a new comic book adaptation from DC that is rapidly gaining momentum and is poised to explode at the box office this autumn. The big question is: Will the superhero in "Blue Beetle" be able to handle the conqueror of hearts and the box office, "Barbie," which has held its position at the top for the fifth weekend in a row?

Both films are Warner Bros. Studios releases, and it appears that "Blue Beetle" is poised to give "Barbie" a real battle for the top spot. Critics predicted for Beetle in July that the film was expected to debut with $17 million in its first weekend, but now the projections are much more optimistic.

"Blue Beetle" cost the studio $125 million and is the third of four films from DC that are slated for big-screen release in 2023. The company is hoping to avoid the setbacks that befell its previous comic book movies, "Shazam: Fury of the Gods," which failed to meet expectations in March with a $30.1 million debut, and "The Flash," which also failed to meet expectations in June, starting with $55 million. Following the release of the sequel to 2018's billion-dollar blockbuster "Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom" in December, the studio's new heads, James Gunn and Peter Safran, plan to markedly change the direction of the comic book universe.

Ángel Manuel Soto is behind the direction of Blue Beetle. Interestingly, the film was originally created for HBO Max, but then was revised and received the right to theatrical release. The film's plot centres around a young college graduate named Jaime Reyes who returns to his hometown of Palmera City. He is to become the symbiotic host of an ancient alien biotech relic that has transformed him into the superhero known as "Blue Beetle".