Studios like Warner Bros. Many recent rulings have put the emphasis on the discovery process and its tumultuous history. It’s no secret that since becoming CEO, David Zaslav has been on the lookout for someone to take Walter Hamada’s position as head of the DCEU and steer the studio in the direction he sees fit. Zaslav has already started to realign the course followed by the company, specifically by cancelling the HBO Max movie Batgirl, while the hunt for a new supervisor continues. Blue Beetle is the only show that was spared from the studio’s proverbial axe.
The movie was originally planned to air on HBO Max, but it was saved from cancellation when a theatrical distribution was announced. Xolo Mariduea, of Cobra Kai fame, will play protagonist Jamie Reyes in the upcoming DC Comics film Blue Beetle, making it the first superhero film to include a Latinx lead. Susan Sarandon, who plays the primary antagonist, announced that the movie was shot in Spanish and would have English subtitles when appearing on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. Although Victoria Kord is a new character for the film, aficionados of the comics may know her last name because Ted Kord was the first Blue Beetle before Jamie.
Sarandon will play Kord. What Sarandon said to Fallon: What’s great about it is that he’s the first Latinx hero to star in his own film. What’s even better is that his family is Mexican and all of the actors were Mexican or Mexican-American, and the film was shot in Spanish but has English subtitles. I play the villain, of course, playing the white military-industrial complex, and I had a blast. To direct Blue Beetle, Angel Manuel Soto has tapped Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer to pen the script. Based on what Sarandon said, it seems like the whole movie is in Spanish, which would be fantastic as Hollywood works to increase diversity and inclusiveness. Blue Beetle finished production earlier this summer, but we still have a bit before we see a trailer.
On August 18, 2023, moviegoers will be able to see Blue Beetle.