In a setback for Warner Bros. and its DC Studios division, Supergirl arrived to weak ticket sales over the weekend.
The movie, which cost US$170 million to make and tens of millions more to market, was on pace to take in about US$38mil from Thursday through Sunday at theatres in the United States and Canada – about 24% below prerelease analyst projections of US$50 million that had already been considered disappointing. It took in an additional US$30mil overseas.
The film received a “rotten” rating from review-aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes. Ticket buyers were similarly unimpressed, giving Supergirl a B-minus grade in CinemaScore exit polls.
Audiences have become much more selective about superhero movies since the genre’s heyday in the 2010s. In 2022, Black Adam, starring Dwayne Johnson, arrived to a disappointing US$67mil in opening-weekend ticket sales, while Morbius, with Jared Leto in the main role, had a disastrous US$39mil debut.
Still, box office analysts on June 28 noted an uncomfortable truth: Female-led superhero movies have been rejected almost uniformly over the past five years or so, perhaps reflecting a resurgent misogyny among the core fan base, which is largely male.
Before its release, Supergirl became caught up in a now-familiar cycle of online abuse, with some fanboys attacking Australian actress Milly Alcock’s casting and appearance. Warner Bros. executives said they were surprised by both the ferocity of the backlash and its reach.
“While Supergirl did not meet our box office expectations, it is just one component of a broader, long-term strategy at DC Studios that we remain confident in,” Peter Safran, co-chairman and co-CEO of DC Studios, said.
Theatres in the United States and Canada were expected to sell about US$153.5mil in tickets in total over the weekend, up 18% from the same weekend last year, according to Rentrak, which compiles box office data.
Toy Story 5 was the No.1 movie in North America for the second weekend, collecting an estimated US$70mil, for a new domestic total of US$297mil and a worldwide total of US$585mil. Supergirl was second.
While a setback, the result for Supergirl does not necessarily undermine the broader strategy that executives have put in place for DC Studios. Box office analysts are optimistic, for instance, about the fortunes of its next movie, Clayface, which arrives in October. - ©2026 The New York Times Company
