Highlights
- Blue Beetle director Angel Manuel Soto has big plans for the character, including potential sequels and a trilogy.
- Positive reviews and support from the Latino community may help boost box office performance for Blue Beetle.
- The success of Blue Beetle is crucial for the future of the DCEU and may determine the character's place in the new DCU.
As Blue Beetle gets its time in the spotlight, the director behind the superhero movie reveals his big plans for the character as he details his mindset and philosophy behind why he intends to push for more.
DC's Blue Beetle serves as an origin story for the hero, recent college graduate Jaime Reyes, who bonds to a highly advanced scarab that expands into an exoskeleton packed to capacity with fascinating abilities and powerful alien weaponry. The film was helmed by the passionate and talented Angel Manuel Soto, who initially pitched a movie about popular Batman villain Bane before being offered the captain’s chair on Blue Beetle. Jaime, like Bane, is a popular Latino comic book character and became the first to lead a live-action superhero film through Soto's efforts.
With production on the film wrapped up, the Blue Beetle director still seems to have a lot left in the tank for Jaime, including multiple potential sequels. When asked by Yahoo about a possible trilogy, Soto responded, “I don't think I would be here talking with you if I didn't think that way.” Continuing, he commented on the possibility of more films being released with an explanation akin to when James Gunn said fans would decide Blue Beetle's DCU future. “The way the machine works, the first movie needs to make money for them to put more money in, but for us, we've always seen it that way.”
While early estimates concluded that Blue Beetle was on track to be another box office flop for DC and Warner Bros Discovery, a slew of positive reviews from early viewers and an influx of love from the Latino community might be the catalyst that gets more butts in seats in theaters showing Blue Beetle. Another point of appeal for the project is the earnest and warm attitude of the director and lead actor towards the film. “We love the story so much. We believe in the product so much. We believe in an actor so much,” Soto said about the movie. “We couldn't help but think about where his journey was going to go while we were creating this film. So, is it wish fulfillment? Are we calling it out to the universe? Sure.”
The final stretch of DC films left over from the previous franchise under the Snyderverse banner have not been box office hits, which doesn’t bode well for Gunn's new DCU slate, despite the division between the two. While the question of whether Blue Beetle can save what’s left of the DCEU has yet to be answered, it does seem to have a more positive feel and a more broadly appealing family dynamic at the center of it, which the last few entries in the franchise lacked.
That said, Blue Beetle has far too much riding on its success, with the legacy of the DCEU, fan interest in Aquaman 2, the possibility of a sequel, and even a place in the new DCU for the character all seemingly dependent on the movie’s performance at a time where fan interest in the genre is low, and actors can’t promote projects. What will come of these high expectations remains to be seen.
Blue Beetle is now playing in theaters.
Source: Yahoo