After premiering in Brooklyn, New York, earlier this week, “Supergirl” flew into numerous United States theaters for its Friday release, but unfortunately, even appearances from David Corenswet as Superman or Jason Momoa as Lobo don’t seem enough to boost the Milly Alcock-starring superhero film at the box office.
According to Variety, the film opened on Friday with $18 million domestically from 3,602 theaters, which was second-best behind “Toy Story 5,” and is on track to make $50 million over the weekend. However, the film also had a $170 million budget and might need a lot more ticket purchases in the coming weeks to generate a profit.
It would certainly be a disappointment for James Gunn, who co-produced the Craig Gillespie-directed film with Peter Safran. The previous film in Gunn’s DC Universe was “Superman,” which achieved significant success at the box office, making over $618 million on a $225 million budget and ending up among last year’s highest-grossing films.
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Overall, reviews of “Supergirl” have been quite unkind, currently resulting in an aggregate 57% score on Rotten Tomatoes. However, it’s worth noting that Newsweek’s review is more favorable, as is RT’s aggregate audience score of 76%.
Compare it to “Superman,” which currently holds an 83% critics review score and a 90% audience review score, and unfortunately, “Supergirl” could be on the way toward flop territory this year. It will be especially glaring with notable Marvel movies, including “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” and “Avengers: Doomsday,” headed to theaters in the coming months.
All of this could be exactly the sort of wake-up call that James Gunn needs to make sure he gets the DCU right. Warner Bros. Discovery made Gunn and Safran co-chairmen and co-CEOs of DC Studios in 2022, with Gunn co-producing and executive producing all films and television series in the DC Universe (DCU).
It’s also been what’s described as a soft reboot of the DC Extended Universe (DCEU), following what some felt was a noteworthy attempt from Zack Snyder with his superhero films focused on star actors Henry Cavill as Superman, Ben Affleck as Batman, Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman, and Momoa as Aquaman.
The Snyderverse, as it’s referred to, never ventured into exploring the Supergirl character, at least with Snyder as a director, writer, or producer. The character was portrayed by Sasha Calle in 2023’s “The Flash,” directed by Andy Muschietti, which was a box-office bomb.
So far, Gunn’s DCEU has achieved notable hits, including the HBO Max series “Peacemaker” starring John Cena, the animated Max series “Creature Commandos,” and last year’s “Superman.” Gunn’s reintroduction of the latter superhero on the big screen was praised by some and hated by others, but it already has a sequel filming, thanks to box office success.
However, if “Supergirl” flops as the second installment in the DCU’s big-screen superhero films, it should definitely set off alarms, or a bat signal to Gunn that he, Safran, and DC Studios need to get things on track before this reboot of beloved superheroes gets worse.
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