Blue Beetle (2023)

So why did it bomb?

I honestly don't think it would matter HOW good the movie is. I think even if it were amazing it would have underperformed. Nobody trusts DC movies. They ran out of their eleventh chances on garbage movie after garbage movie. Going to the movies is expensive now. Repeatedly watching crappy DC movies on the off-chance you'll get a decent one like this is what is known as a bad investment.

This is why I don't believe James Gunn can save the DC Universe. If Warner Discovery truly wants to save the DC movie franchise, stop making movies for five to ten years, no exaggeration. Hell, I would cease production on new TV shows too and only produce one or two kiddie cartoons at a time. Make people miss the franchise a little. And they after everybody has forgotten why we all loathe DC Comics movies, quietly start bringing them back, and making them not just good, but effortlessly good, and ENJOYABLE (like this one is), and the way Marvel movies used to be before they bit off more than they could chew and went off the rails. But Marvel actually made quite a run of it. DC never left the station before blowing everything to hell.

The movie wasn't perfect (I felt Jaime was held captive for far too long in the climax) but it did a LOT of stuff I thought was great (like surprisingly redeeming OMAC, and letting both Jaime and the audience sympathize and understand him). I thought his Nana being a secret badass felt kind of random and stupid, but the rest of the family dynamics were a bit refreshing. I feel like this is a really good superhero movie that deserved to exist in a better franchise. Instead it hit the Extended Universe while it was on its last legs. It's being a financial failure was actually inevitable. 4 stars.