Why Did "Supergirl" Crash at the Box Office? Alarm Bells Ring for DC's New Universe

The last thing you want when trying to launch a cinematic universe is a $37 million opening weekend — yet that's exactly where DC finds itself following 'Supergirl'*s shocking debut.

A Warner Bros. insider told TheWrap the film "missed on so many levels." Reviews were harsh, but even the comic-book fans who showed up weren't won over — the film earned a B- CinemaScore. The most critical issue is that it completely failed to reach its target audience: starring 26-year-old Milly Alcock, the film was made for Gen Z women, but that demographic didn't turn out over the weekend. 59% of the audience was male, and 65% was over 25.

'Supergirl'*s $170 million budget sets the profitability bar extremely high — without a miracle, there's no way to clear it. With the superhero genre already trending downward for the past several years (even Florence Pugh and Pedro Pascal couldn't bring Marvel films back to 2010s-level performance), 'Supergirl' may end up being the last non-A-list superhero movie greenlit at such a high budget.

The good news is that DC's next film is already following a different template: this fall's 'Clayface' is a $40 million body-horror film. But does 'Supergirl' signal blanket audience indifference toward James Gunn and Peter Safran's 10-year DC plan, or is this simply the rejection of a single film? According to sources, the coming months will answer that question.

For comparison: 'Supergirl' opened just below Sony/Marvel's 2022 flop 'Morbius,' which debuted at $39 million. Even if the Fourth of July holiday limits its second-weekend drop, it seems unlikely the film will even surpass the $271 million global gross of 2023's 'The Flash.'