Blue Beetle Will First Have an International Premiere Prior to U.S. release
The Latino community has long awaited a feature film like Blue Beetle. This film will be the first studio film with a Latino superhero in the lead. And that Latino is Xolo Maridueña, who audiences already love in Netflix’s it series Cobra Kai.
It’s a big tall order for Maridueña to carry the hopes of the Latino community on his shoulders. But he has been working all his life for an opportunity to represent and is up to the task. Xolo Maridueña is a native of Los Angeles. He started acting professionally in 2011. His natural talent quickly lead to dozens of roles within his first year. Those included several television commercials, a recurring role on Parenthood which soon turned into a series regular role. His other credits include Showtime’s Twin Peaks, and the TV drama Major Crimes. However, Maridueña is most known as Miguel in the Netflix original series, Cobra Kai, the continuation of the Karate Kid franchise.
Warner Bros. Pictures is also betting on this film and Maridueña. This could be the film that will finally solidify, not only the marketability of a Latino in a Superhero lead role, but also prove the power of the #1 film going audience in the U.S. — Latinos. The film, directed by Angel Manuel Soto, also stars a cast of well known Latino/a talent, an Academy Award nominee and a Oscar winning actress.
Blue Beetle marks the DC Super Hero’s first time on the big screen as well as Maridueña’s first film role. The Blue Beetle superhero first made an appearance in 1939, and is one of the oldest DC characters. Lending in Latino perspective to the Warner Bros. film is Mexican screenwriter Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer, best known for Contrapelo and Miss Bala.
Maridueña plays Jaime Reyes who returns home from college with major plans for his life, but as it usually happens, life has a different plan. 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 Blue Beetle.
Soto has brought together a dreamcast to tell the story. From millennials to Academy Award nominated actors, to television superstars, which lends itself for more of a wide audience appeal.
Starring alongside Maridueña are Academy Award nominee Adriana Barraza (Rambo: Last Blood, Thor) as Jaime’s Nana, Damían Alcázar (Narcos, Narcos: Mexico) as his father, Elpidia Carrillo (Mayans M.C., the Predator) as his mother, George Lopez (Lopez Vs. Lopez, Rio and Smurf franchises) as Jaime’s Uncle Rudy, Raoul Max Trujillo (the Sicario films, Mayans M.C.) as Carapax, Bruna Marquezine (Maldivas, God Save the King) as Jenny Kord, with Oscar winner Susan Sarandon (Monarch, Dead Man Walking) as Victoria Kord. The film also stars Gen-z’er Belissa Escobedo (American Horror Stories, Hocus Pocus 2) as Jaime’s sister, Milagro, and millennial Harvey Guillén (What We Do in the Shadows) as Dr. Sanchez.
Director Soto hails from Puerto Rico, and is an avid traveler of the world. He first studied architecture and advertising but soon found his love for film. Having directed several short films, his long form films include Charm City Kings which received critical and a Grand Jury Nomination at Sundance, and his 2018 film The Farm took the Raindance Film Festival Immersive Stories Award. Blue Beetle will be his first studio film.
John Rickard and Zev Foreman are producing, with Walter Hamada, Galen Vaisman and Garrett Grant serving as executive producers.
The creative team behind the scenes includes director of photography Pawel Pogorzelski (Midsommar, Hereditary), production designer John Billington (Bad Boys for Life), editor Craig Alpert (Deadpool 2, The Lost City), Oscar-nominated costume designer Mayes C. Rubeo (Jojo Rabbit, the Thor films), visual effects supervisor Kelvin McIlwain (The Suicide Squad, Aquaman) and composer Bobby Krlic (Midsommar, the Snowpiercer series).
A Warner Bros. Pictures Presentation, a Safran Company Production, Blue Beetle will premiere in theaters only internationally beginning August 2023 and in North America August 18, 2023. It will be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures.