Supergirl has made far from a superheroic stamp at the box office – and now DC Studios has addressed the elephant in the room.
Anticipation was high for the new film, considering its predecessor, James Gunn’s Superman, was a critical and commercial hit in 2025.
But Supergirl, starring Milly Alcock, was maligned by critics – and audiences are in agreement; the film, which cost around $170m (£128.4m) to make, made just $63m (£47.6m) in its first weekend of release. For comparison, Superman made a massive $125m (£94.4m) on its opening weekend.
When the box office numbers were announced, Peter Safran, the co-chairman and co-chief executive of DC Studios released a statement, telling the New York Times: “While Supergirl didn’t meet our box office expectations, it’s just one component of a broader, long-term strategy at DC Studios that we remain confident in.”
Its opening numbers are even lower than those of 2022’s Jared Leto-starring superhero movie Morbius, which pulled in $39.1m (£29.5m) in North American cinemas despite terrible reviews and a plot that left audiences baffled.
Morbius became something of a legendary fail for a Marvel Comics adaptation, though it was technically not a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Supergirl, directed by Craig Gillespie and written by Ana Nogueira, has just 54 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes’ Tomatometer.
The Independent’s film critic Clarisse Loughrey called the movie “ugly” and “dispiriting” in her review for The Independent, writing: “The character’s strong. It’s only a shame her surroundings are so listless.”
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In addition to the bad reviews, Supergirl faced competition at movie theatres with Disney and Pixar’s Toy Story 5 staying in the top spot with $70m (£52.9m) in its second weekend.
The DC Universe will continue next with Clayface in October, which has a substantially smaller price tag of $40m (£30.2m).
Supergirl is former House of the Dragon star Alcock’s first mainstream film role, and she told The Associated Press she’s found the experience “kind of disorientating”.
“I do this job because it gives me the ability to disappear,” she said. “So then to like suddenly be so visible and so exposed is a very vulnerable experience. I’m just trying to learn how to deal with that relationship.
“But I mean, it’s exciting. Of course it’s exciting. But like anything exciting, it’s also terrifying.”
