The Blue Beetle premiere earlier this week was a distinctly low-key affair. The ongoing Hollywood strikes prohibit union members from participating in promoting movies.
This meant we saw producers James Gunn, Peter Safran, and director Ángel Manuel Soto cutting some rather lonely pictures on the ‘red’ carpet (in this instance, it was a fitting shade of blue) while stars Xolo Maridueña, Bruna Marquezine, George Lopez, Adriana Barraza and Susan Sarandon stayed home.
With the cast unable to help market the film, Soto has been shouldering much of the burden with an exhaustive series of interviews to drum up excitement. But even though he’s working much harder than most directors in marketing his own movie, he clearly supports his striking co-workers. Speaking to Entertainment Tonight, he was unequivocal:
“The strike was not in my bingo card. But at the same time, you know, actions like that are necessary and they have to happen when they have to happen. Unfortunately, it happened while we were on premiere, and it’s no secret that it affects us disproportionately, people of color and marginalized communities, for that matter, and minorities. But the truth is that our actors, our talent – which is the main reason why we want to support them — they really, really gave it all… They gave their heart and soul.”
Blue Beetle is now in theaters, and we’re eager to see its box office performance. Projections give it a good chance of finally unseating the behemoth that is Barbie, now coming up to its fourth week in theaters and still at number one.
For once a DC movie has been met with positive reviews, there’s something refreshing about a straightforward superhero origin story, and the trailer has teased some fun moments. Whether these positive vibes can be translated into box office glory remains to be seen, though with Blue Beetle having a relatively cheap $125 million budget due to its HBO Max origins, it at least seems certain to turn a healthy profit.