Supergirl hasn’t performed well at the box office, which is disappointing for DC Comics. This poor result could be a warning sign for the future of the franchise. While DCU’s first wave of projects was announced in January 2023, plans have changed since then, and some previously planned movies are now on hold.
It’s awesome to see James Gunn isn’t just focusing on the big new DCU plans! He’s also pushing forward with some really cool projects that were already in development, like the Clayface movie coming out October 23rd and a Superman spin-off series about Jimmy Olsen for HBO Max – they’re gearing up to film that soon. And thankfully, Supergirl was always meant to be part of this whole DCU vision, which is great news!
The Supergirl movie started with a lot of promise, based on the popular comics Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow. Unfortunately, it didn’t quite live up to expectations. Critics weren’t impressed, giving it a 53% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and while audiences liked it better with a 74% score, that wasn’t enough to make it a success at the box office.
As of today, the second film in James Gunn’s DC Universe has earned only $120.9 million globally. Supergirl is currently underperforming compared to other superhero flops like Morbius, which made $167.5 million. With the movie recently hitting a record low for the DC franchise, its future box office prospects look bleak and this should be worrying for DC Studios.
Supergirl Just Had The Worst Box Office Week 4 For DC Shared Universes
The movie Supergirl had a disappointing fourth weekend in theaters, earning only $1.52 million domestically. This makes it the lowest-performing fourth weekend for any film in the DC Universe (DCU) or its predecessor, the DCEU. So far, the DCU has only released Superman and Supergirl; Superman earned $13.7 million in its fourth week. Comparing Supergirl to previous DCEU films, Shazam! Fury of the Gods had the worst fourth-weekend performance with $1.6 million, released near the end of the original DCEU run.
Despite a significant budget of $170 million, the movie Supergirl is falling short at the box office. Its earnings are almost equal to those of Supergirl, but still lag behind other DC Universe films like The Flash ($2.3 million), Wonder Woman 1984 ($2.1 million), and Blue Beetle ($3.8 million). To break even, Supergirl needed to earn between $340 and $425 million, a goal it won’t reach given its weak performance in theaters. This is a broader issue for DC, and they need to address it.
James Gunn’s DCU Might Need To Sound The Alarm
Look, the DC Extended Universe was always a bit of a mess, and the final nail in the coffin seemed to be the underperformance of its last four films. Everyone was really hoping James Gunn’s new DC Universe would be a fresh start, a return to the source material. But after seeing Supergirl, I’m not so sure. The film adapted what is widely considered one of the greatest Supergirl stories ever told in the comics, yet it just didn’t resonate with audiences the way Gunn’s Superman did last year. It’s a real disappointment, because the potential was absolutely there.
As a big DC fan, it’s disheartening to see ‘Supergirl’ struggle so much at the box office – it’s broken some pretty unfortunate records for the franchise. It really makes you wonder about the future, especially with no clear plans yet for when we’ll see major heroes like Batman and Wonder Woman join the new DCU. While ‘Supergirl’ isn’t a total failure, it’s definitely a wake-up call. I think what the DCU really needs right now is to focus on those characters that audiences already love and know will bring people to the theaters.
2026-07-21 00:38