The projections I was reading for Warners’ low-risk/limited star power superhero movie “Blue Beetle” pointed to a $30 million opening, not great for a comic book adaptation but not terrible for the movie dumping ground month of August.

Middling Thursday night previews and a decent Friday –$9-10– put the film on track to earn $25 million, at this point, according to Deadline.com. TheNumbers (@movienumbers) posts that it will hit the $25.4 million mark by midnight Sunday.

Franchise starter? Maybe. Not a sure thing, though, opening well below the studio’s already low projections. Not a great movie, pretty cheesy as it services its comic book fan and Latino demos. Weak reviews overall. But the Warners marketing was weak — perhaps over-targeted, perhaps cut-rate — and big crowds did not show up.

An even more middling take might have dropped this one behind the movie of the summer, “Barbie.” It’s on track to add another $21.5. Box Office Mojo says it’ll clear the $565 million mark, just in North America, by Sunday .

“Oppenheimer” managed $10.6 million, climbing up the charts listing past Christopher Nolan blockbusters. It will have tallied $718 million worldwide by midnight Sunday.

“Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” aka “Mutant Mayhem” is set to pull in $8.4.

“Strays” is a bad movie with a lot of laughs, but a true “dog” of the dog days of summer. It is straining at the leash to make it to $8.3 million. according to @movienumbers. Those digital effects — getting dogs to talk — are costly, meaning this won’t break even before it limps off into the sunset.

The last word on the top five comes from @boxofficepro.