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- The DCEU film franchise has had a rocky road over the past 10 years, failing to reach the heights of the MCU, highlighting the need for change.
- Two 2023 DCEU movies, Shazam! “Wrath of the Titans” and “Blue Beetle” underperformed at the box office, earning less than the infamous superhero movie flops.
- A lack of interest in the franchise and few connections between the films has led to box office woes, and the new DC Universe reboot aims to address these issues with a focused creative drive and more connections.
Comparing two 2023 DCEU movies to one notoriously unsuccessful superhero movie leaves a bad impression on the series and proves that a reboot of the DC Universe is necessary for future success. The DCEU franchise began a decade ago and has had an extremely bumpy road over the past decade, with Warner Bros. producing a series of DC-based movies that are only loosely connected to each other. The DCEU never reached the heights of the MCU due to divisive films and constant changes in leadership, and now Warner Bros. Discovery Channel is looking to give the series new life.
In late 2022, WBD established DC Studios as its own film studio within the larger company and hired writer-director James Gunn and producer Peter Safran to lead the next era of DC films. In January, they announced the initial lineup of DC Universe movies and shows, which includes Superman and Batman reboots as well as shows starring existing DCEU characters like Amanda Waller. Despite DC’s plans to relaunch the franchise, WBD still has four DCEU movies due for release in 2023, two of which have box office statistics that point to the need for a reboot.
Shazam 2 and Blue Beetle underperform Sony’s Morbius at the box office
Sony’s 2022 Spider-Man spin-off movie Mobius The film failed miserably at the box office, grossing only $167.5 million worldwide. Since the film’s budget was $75-83 million, and the film would need to earn twice that budget to recoup the additional marketing costs, Mobius Even when the second part was released, it was barely scraping by. still, Moebius Not only does it perform well blue beetlebut Shazam!wrath of the godsboth with higher budgets. blue beetle The film grossed $127.5 million worldwide on a budget of $104 million. Shazam The sequel grossed $133.8 million against a budget of $125 million.
Since there is neither Shazam!wrath of the gods nor blue beetle managed to double their budgets and box office receipts, both ended up being bigger bombs than that Moebius.This is especially shocking considering the fact that Moebius Due to the poor response from viewers, it became a meme. People online took a satirical zeal for the much-criticized film, turning it into a joke and somehow convincing Sony to re-release the film, only to have it bomb at the box office again. There was no real support behind the film’s performance at the box office, however. Mobius That’s more than two of the DCEU’s 2023 movies. This is certainly a sign that the direction of the DCEU needs to change.
How the DCU is solving the DCEU’s latest box office woes
The DCEU’s final film struggled at the box office for a number of reasons, one of which was a loss of interest in the series being re-released. If the Shazam and Blue Beetle movies had no future on screen, there would be no reason to care about them, and even before the DCCU reboot was announced, audiences could choose what to watch as there was little to no connection between the movies. Now that Gunn and Safran are taking on roles similar to Marvel’s Kevin Feige, they’re gearing up for a soft reboot of the franchise and ushering in an era centered around creative drive and more connectivity. As long as the new DCU movies are truly entertaining, re-releases should solve the DCEU’s box office woes.