Warner Bros. Pictures has officially decided to change the distribution release of Angel Manuel Soto’s forthcoming live-action DC movie Blue Beetle. Originally slated as an HBO Max release, the Xolo Maridueña-led superhero film has now moved from streaming to an exclusive theatrical release and is currently scheduled to make its debut in theaters on August 18, 2023.
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In addition, the studio has also announced the release dates for other five upcoming films from its 2023/2024 theatrical release schedule and the 2022 HBO Max release lineup. Warner Bros. has finally set the theatrical dates for producer James Wan’s Train to Busan remake titled The Last Train to New York on April 21, 2023, and the animated Wizard of Oz movie Toto, on February 4, 2022.
As for the new updates regarding the 2022 HBO Max release schedule, the studio has revealed that Megan Park’s coming-of-age film The Fallout will be streaming on January 27, 2022, while Steven Soderbergh’s Zoë Kravitz-led original thriller KIMI and Christopher Winterbauer’s romantic-comedy film Moonshot will debut on February 10, 2022, and March 24, 2022, respectively.
The Blue Beetle movie will be directed by Angel Manuel Soto (Charm City Kings) from a screenplay adapted by Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer (Miss Bala). Cobra Kai breakout Xolo Maridueña stars in Warner Bros. Pictures and DC Films’ first stand-alone Latino-led superhero movie as Mexican-American teenager, Jaime Reyes, who is the third character in the comics to take on the mantle of the Blue Beetle following Dan Garret and Ted Kord.
Click here to purchase the first volume of the DC Rebirth storyline of Jamie Reyes’ Blue Beetle.
In the comics, Jaime Reyes discovered the Blue Beetle scarab on the way home from school with two of his best friends Paco and Brenda, half-buried in a disused lot. Reyes took the scarab home, curious as to what it might be. That night, the scarab came alive, and grafted itself to the base of Jaime’s spine, and provided him with a suit of extraterrestrial armor that can be modified to enhance his speed and strength, as well as to create weapons, wings, and shields.
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Blue Beetle is expected to start its production early next year. It will be executive produced by Zev Foreman of Warner Bros. with HBO Max’s John Rickard set as a producer.
Based on the titular DC hero created by Charles Wojtkowski in 1939, Jaime Reyes first appeared in 2006’s Infinite Crisis #5, followed by his own monthly series that debuted in May of 2006 with Blue Beetle #1. The third iteration of the hero was created by Keith Giffen, John Rogers, and Cully Hammer,
