‘Blue Beetle’ Unseats ‘Barbie’ Atop Box Office, Ending Four-Week Reign

A general view of the blue carpet during Warner Bros' "Blue Beetle" premiere at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, California, on August 15, 2023. (AFP)

07:46-21 August 2023 AD ـ 05 Safar 1445 AH

‘Blue Beetle’ Unseats ‘Barbie’ Atop Box Office, Ending Four-Week Reign

A general view of the blue carpet during Warner Bros' "Blue Beetle" premiere at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, California, on August 15, 2023. (AFP)

The DC superhero film “Blue Beetle” led weekend ticket sales with a modest $25.4 million opening, according to studio estimates Sunday, dethroning “Barbie” from the top spot after a record-setting run that left movie theaters colored pink for a month.

The “Barbie” phenomenon is far from over. Greta Gerwig’s film, which earlier this week became the highest grossing Warner Bros. release ever domestically, nearly managed to stay No. 1 again with $21.5 million in its fifth weekend. It's up to $567.3 million in North America and an eye-popping $1.28 billion globally.

The other half of “Barbenheimer” also continues to perform remarkably well for a movie so far into its run.

Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” took in $10.6 million in its fifth week. With a $285.2 million domestic total, “Oppenheimer” now owns the distinction of being the biggest box-office hit never to land No. 1 at the weekend box office. The previous record-holder for that unlikely stat is 2016’s “Sing,” which grossed $270.3 million in the shadow of “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” and “Hidden Figures.”

Universal Pictures' “Oppenheimer” has done even better overseas. Its global gross stands at an estimated $717.8 million through Sunday.

“Blue Beetle,” starring Xolo Maridueña, came in on the lower side of expectations and notched one of the lower debuts for a DC Comics movie. Though earlier planned as a streaming-only release, Warner Bros. elected to put “Blue Beetle,” the first DC movie to star a Latino superhero, into theaters in the late summer, a typically quiet period at the box office.

The production price tag of about $105 million was lower for “Blue Beetle” than the average superhero film. It's one of the last releases produced under an earlier regime at DC Studios, which James Gunn and Peter Safran took the reins of last year.

The film, directed by Ángel Manuel Soto and written by Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer, drew solid reviews – certainly better than the three previous DC releases this year (“The Flash,” “Black Adam” and “Shazam! Fury of the Gods”). “Blue Beetle” (76% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes) is the rare comic-book film to put a Hispanic cast front and center.

But it also faced some tough luck, and not just in the unexpected staying power of “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer.” Southern California was bracing Sunday for Hurricane Hilary — potentially dampening ticket sales in the region. (Los Angeles was still its top market.) And like recent releases, “Blue Beetle," which added $18 million internationally, didn't have its cast available to promote the movie due to the ongoing actors strike.

Universal’s raunchy R-rated canine comedy “Strays” showed even less bite. The film, with a voice cast including Will Ferrell and Jamie Foxx, landed in fifth place with $8.4 million. Comedies have generally struggled in theaters in recent years, but “Strays” had it particularly rough given that its starry cast was unavailable.

“Strays” was very narrowly bested by “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem.” The Paramount Pictures animated release earned $8.4 million in its third weekend, bringing its domestic total to $88.1 million.

F1 Great Ayrton Senna’s High-Octane Life in Focus of New Netflix Series about Racing Champion

Brazilian actor Gabriel Leone poses for photos on the red carpet for the Netflix series Senna, about the life and death of Formula 1 legend Ayrton Senna, who was killed in 1994 in a crash, in Sao Paulo, Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2024. (AP)

17:18-27 November 2024 AD ـ 26 Jumada Al-Ula 1446 AH

F1 Great Ayrton Senna’s High-Octane Life in Focus of New Netflix Series about Racing Champion

Thirty years after his death in a high-speed crash viewed by millions around the world, Formula One champion Ayrton Senna's high-octane life is also about to play out in front of a global audience.

The legendary Brazilian driver — who was killed when his car hit a concrete wall at the San Marino Grand Prix in 1994 — is the subject of a six-episode Netflix series that debuts on Nov. 29 and follows him from his early go-kart days to that fatal Sunday afternoon at the Imola track in Italy.

Even three decades after that accident, few F1 figures evoke as much emotion and passion among fans and fellow drivers as Senna, who won three championship titles before his death at the age of 34.

Senna’s complex personality — he was a saint to his millions of Brazilian fans and a sinner to some critics who deemed his driving style too aggressive — comes to life through Brazilian actor Gabriel Leone, who embraced the challenge of portraying such a popular figure.

"He was much more than an F1 driver for us, he became an icon, much beyond his technique and his driving," Leone told The Associated Press in an interview in Sao Paulo. "He had this humanity, this honesty. The things he said, his values, it all made him closer to people."

Senna's life and career had no shortage of made-for-TV moments.

This was a driver who once won a race with his car stuck in sixth gear in front of thousands of raucous fans at the Interlagos track. And who went from fifth position to first in one lap at the 1993 European Grand Prix. And who jumped out of his car during a training session to save the life of a French driver who had crashed.

On the track, his rivalry with French driver Alain Prost was one of the most intense that F1 has ever seen. Off the track, he had some high-profile relationships as well and dated several models, including Elle Macpherson.

"For me as an actor, the more complex the character is, the better. It is more interesting to build him and live him. And this is quite a character, the biggest hero in Brazil, not only in sport," Leone said. "Ayrton was transcendent, he was more than an F1 driver. That’s a guy who is the hero of great drivers in history, like (Michael) Schumacher and (Lewis) Hamilton."

Senna won the drivers’ championship in 1988, 1990 and 1991 with the McLaren team and moved to Williams in the year he died as the favorite to lift the title again.

For Leone, though, it was also important to portray him as a person who understood his role as a national hero, who advocated for the poor and proudly waved a Brazilian flag from his cockpit during every victory lap.

"He was not distant, he was close," said Leone, who attended a red carpet premiere in Sao Paulo on Tuesday with several other cast members and director Vicente Amorim. "That’s for Brazilians and non-Brazilians. It was like this, and it still is like this."

To many international fans, Senna was simply an exceptional talent who was born to be a driver. Even former rival Martin Brundle, now a TV pundit, once likened Senna's ability to find grip on some corners to a dance seemingly innate to a Brazilian.

"It is a different kind of samba that I could not do," Brundle has said.

The Netflix series, however, shows some of the hard work and attention to detail that went into Senna becoming a wet-weather master.

The streaming giant — which reportedly invested more than $170 million in its production — also takes a bit of liberty with the truth when it comes to building up the animosity between Senna and one of his other real-life antagonists, Jean-Marie Balestre, the French former president of F1's governing body FIA.

Balestre is often accused by fans of aiding his countryman Prost in his rivalry with Senna, including at the 1984 Monaco Grand Prix by stopping the race early before the Brazilian driver could overtake his French rival in the heavy rain. And at the 1989 Japanese Grand Prix, when Senna was disqualified in a decision that handed the championship title to Prost.

The Netflix series goes a step further by making Balestre (played by Arnaud Viard) the man responsible for Senna also losing a go-kart title as a youngster, long before he even entered F1.

"If that was true it would be news to every reporter covering Senna’s story over the last decades," said Ernesto Rodrigues, who wrote a biography on the three-time F1 champion. "Yes, Senna had Balestre working against him many times. But Balestre was an autocrat with other drivers, too. It wasn’t exclusive."

Prost, played by Matt Mella, goes from being a racing foe to a friend after his retirement in the series just like in real life. The friction between the two as McLaren teammates and then in the title-deciding races in the 1989 and 1990 seasons create some of the best moments of the series for racing fans.

Three of the women in Senna’s life also appear in the series.

Scenes with Lílian de Vasconcellos Souza, who married Senna in 1981 and divorced him the next year, help show how the Brazilian was driven to go into F1 early in his career. Xuxa Meneghel, a wildly popular TV host, is featured for a full episode as the driver’s most important girlfriend. Adriane Galisteu, who was the champion’s girlfriend when he died, appears for less than three minutes.

Senna's importance to today's F1 drivers was on full display at the Brazilian Grand Prix this month, when Hamilton — the British seven-time F1 champion — drove one of Senna's old cars around the track as part of the tributes marking the 30th anniversary of his death.

"This is the greatest honor of my life," Hamilton said on Nov. 3. "I hope I made Senna proud."

‘Blue Beetle’ Unseats ‘Barbie’ Atop Box Office, Ending Four-Week Reign

‘Blue Beetle’ Unseats ‘Barbie’ Atop Box Office, Ending Four-Week Reign

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F1 Great Ayrton Senna’s High-Octane Life in Focus of New Netflix Series about Racing Champion

F1 Great Ayrton Senna’s High-Octane Life in Focus of New Netflix Series about Racing Champion

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