Following Superman's successful theatrical run last year, the second movie in James Gunn's DCU Chapter One: Gods and Monsters is currently flopping at the box office, but co-head Peter Safran says Supergirl is just one piece of a larger picture.
"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," said the co-chairman and co-chief executive of DC Studios to The New York Times.
After debuting to mixed reviews and landing a mediocre 56% score on Rotten Tomatoes, Supergirl went on to earn just $38 million in the US over opening weekend, and a further $30 million internationally. That is pretty disappointing for DC, and is even lower than 2022 Spider-Man spin-off, Morbius, which opened to $39 million.
It is not clear at this point whether Supergirl will prove to be a loss for the studio. The movie cost around $170 million to make, with tens of millions more spent to market the movie worldwide. However, there is no doubt that Supergirl is off to a bad start. Just last year, Superman opened to $125 million domestically and went on to gross over $618 million worldwide against a predicted $350 million production and marketing budget.
So, why is Supergirl flopping so hard? There's no doubt that the new film is receiving a lot of flak online, with many viewers complaining about the pacing and one questionable needle drop. But many superhero fans are enjoying Milly Alcock's debut as Kara Zor-El. In our Supergirl review, we awarded the new DCU movie 3.5 out of 5 stars, saying, "Supergirl earns its Guardians of the Galaxy and Mad Max comparisons with a surprisingly dark space adventure about revenge and finding your home."
However, no matter how Supergirl fares, the DCU lives on, as there are already several projects in the works. Next up, HBO show Lanterns will take us on a True Detective-like adventure, and just in time for Halloween, the DCU will deliver its first horror movie, Clayface. Plus, filming has already started on the Superman sequel, Man of Tomorrow.
Supergirl is out in theaters now. For more, check out our guide to all the upcoming DC movies and shows, or how to watch the DC movies in order.
