Move Over, ‘Barbenheimer’: ‘Blue Beetle’ Tops Whip Media’s List of Most Anticipated August Movies

By: Sean Burch|August 4, 2023

July was the month for movies — but August isn’t looking like a bad encore, either.

That’s clear once you take a look at the latest Whip Media Anticipation Report, highlighting the top 10 flicks that fans can’t wait to see this month. Perhaps the box office momentum from “Barbenheimer” — aka the recent smash releases of both “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” — can fuel some of these movies to big runs as well.

“Blue Beetle,” the upcoming DC Comics superhero flick starring Jaime Reyes as the titular star, is the most anticipated movie in the U.S. in August, per Whip Media’s viewership data. The new movie is the third from DC this year, after “Shazam! Fury of the Gods” and “The Flash.” Here’s a quick synopsis of “Blue Beetle,” via Collider:

Recent college grad Jaime Reyes returns home full of aspirations for his future, only to find that home is not quite as he left it. As he searches to find his purpose in the world, fate intervenes when Jaime unexpectedly finds himself in possession of an ancient relic of alien biotechnology: the Scarab. When the Scarab suddenly chooses Jaime to be its symbiotic host, he is bestowed with an incredible suit of armor capable of extraordinary and unpredictable powers, forever changing his destiny as he becomes the Super Hero BLUE BEETLE. 

And interestingly, the second-most anticipated movie of the month isn’t even set to hit theaters: “Red, White & Royal Blue” is set to debut on Amazon Prime Video on August 11 — one week ahead of “Blue Beetle.” The new movie, based on the popular 2019 book of the same name, focuses on a secret relationship between the son of the U.S. President and a British prince — a relationship both have to keep private due to their spots in the public light. Taylor Zakhar Perez and Nicholas Galitzine will star as the two leads, and Uma Thurman and Stephen Fry appear in supporting roles.

The third movie Anticipation Report, “Meg 2: The Trench,” is making its theatrical debut on August 4 — the same day “Heart of Stone,” the fourth most-anticipated movie of the month, is available on Netflix.  For a full look at the Anticipation Report — which includes the latest “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle” flick — check out the graphic below:

You can also find more Whip Media data in the news this week over at TheWrap, which looked at Paramount+ and its big streaming week due to “Zoey 102” and the latest “Transformers” movie.