'Supergirl' falter tests James Gunn's DC reboot strategy

Supergirl opened to a weak $38 million domestic debut and $68 million worldwide, roughly 24 percent below already-soft projections of $50 million — the first serious box-office stumble for the DC Universe reboot overseen by James Gunn and Peter Safran at DC Studios. The result tests whether last summer's Superman success can sustain the long-term franchise plan Warner Bros. has staked on Gunn's leadership.

Key Takeaways

• Supergirl earned $38 million in the U.S. and Canada and $68 million globally against a reported $170 million production budget, finishing second behind Toy Story 5.
• Pre-release forecasts had already been trimmed to about $50 million domestically; the film landed roughly 24 percent below that mark, per the New York Times.
• DC Studios co-CEO Peter Safran told the New York Times the studio remains confident in its long-term strategy despite the miss.
• Yahoo Entertainment commentators argue Supergirl succeeded creatively by scaling down superhero stakes — even as Rotten Tomatoes and CinemaScore scores stayed mixed.
• The opening marks a sharp contrast to Superman, which launched the Gunn-Safran era with $618 million worldwide in 2025.

Why Did 'Supergirl' Underperform at the Box Office?

In a setback for Warner Bros. and its DC Studios division, Supergirl arrived to weak ticket sales over the weekend. The Milly Alcock-led film collected about $38 million from Thursday through Sunday at theaters in the United States and Canada, according to The New York Times. It took in an additional $30 million overseas for a $68 million global opening.

That performance landed roughly 24 percent below prerelease analyst projections of $50 million domestically — figures the Times noted had already been considered disappointing for a tentpole of this scale. The movie cost $170 million to make and tens of millions more to market. Craig Gillespie directed the space adventure during the peak of summer movie season.

Audience and critical reception offered little lift. Review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a "rotten" rating, and ticket buyers graded it B-minus in CinemaScore exit polls. The lukewarm response arrived during one of Hollywood's strongest summer box-office seasons since the Covid-19 pandemic. Theaters in the United States and Canada were expected to sell about $153.5 million in tickets in total over the weekend, up 18 percent from the same frame a year earlier, according to Rentrak data cited by the Times.

Disney-Pixar's Toy Story 5 remained the No. 1 movie in North America for a second weekend, collecting an estimated $70 million for a new domestic total of $297 million and a worldwide total of $585 million. Supergirl placed second — a sobering position for a film positioned as the next major step in James Gunn's rebuilt DC slate.

What Did James Gunn and DC Studios Say About the Opening?

James Gunn co-chairs DC Studios alongside Peter Safran. The pair laid out their strategy and release slate in early 2023, shortly after assuming their roles atop the Warner Bros.-owned label. Supergirl is only the second big-screen project from that DC Universe plan, arriving a year after Superman landed in theaters with David Corenswet in the lead.

Safran addressed the numbers directly. Speaking to the New York Times by telephone on Sunday, he said: "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." The Hollywood Reporter noted that Safran, who leads the company with Gunn, framed the film as one piece of a roadmap the executives crafted at the start of their tenure.

The executive response signals that Warner Bros. is not publicly retreating from its interconnected franchise ambitions — even as the opening raises fresh questions about whether audiences will follow lesser-known heroes beyond a marquee Superman relaunch. Supergirl centers on Kara Zor-El, the cousin of the Man of Steel, as she encounters Jason Momoa's Lobo and other comics staples in director Craig Gillespie's adaptation.

Did 'Supergirl' Do the One Thing Superhero Movies Need to Survive?

While ticket buyers stayed home, some commentators argue the film made a deliberate creative choice that the genre increasingly needs. In analysis published by Yahoo Entertainment, critics highlighted how Supergirl bucked the save-the-universe trend in favor of smaller, personal stakes.

The Alcock-starring standalone brings the genre "way, way down to size," the piece argued — a compact story designed to help audiences get to know Kara Zor-El, what matters to her, and how she lives her life. Advocates say that is exactly what a standalone movie introducing a new character to a reworked DC world should attempt, rather than another save-the-universe spectacle.

The tension is stark. A film praised for doing "the one thing superhero movies need to do to survive — and did it well" still could not convert that approach into opening-weekend momentum. Commentators warned that drawing the wrong lesson — treating the film's smaller-scale adventure as the problem rather than the solution — would be the worst takeaway from its performance and mixed critical appraisal. The superhero genre is not disappearing, they noted, but its box-office success is no longer guaranteed.

How Does This Opening Compare to the 'Superman' Reboot?

The financial gap between DC Studios' first two theatrical releases is difficult to ignore. Superman scored $618 million globally on a reported $225 million production budget, while Supergirl, costing $170 million, opened to a fraction of that total worldwide.

For fans tracking how blockbuster franchises rise, stumble, and reboot across eras, the back-to-back results sketch a familiar Hollywood pattern: a celebrated relaunch followed by a sophomore test that the market greets far more coolly. Last summer, Superman's commercial run suggested James Gunn and Peter Safran had cleared the hardest hurdle — proving the DC brand could still draw crowds. Supergirl's debut suggests building an interconnected film franchise may be harder than a single hit implied.

The contrast also underscores the economics of modern tentpoles. Even with a lower production budget than Superman, Supergirl still arrived as a major financial bet. Mixed reviews and a B-minus CinemaScore grade leave limited room for the kind of word-of-mouth surge that can extend a troubled opening into a profitable run.

What Comes Next for James Gunn's DC Universe?

Despite the stumble, DC Studios is not publicly recalibrating its announced long-term plan. Safran's comments point to Supergirl as one chapter in a multi-year rollout rather than a referendum on the entire Gunn-Safran era.

Financially, the path forward looks steep. Supergirl opened into a crowded summer calendar, and its lukewarm reception could limit theatrical staying power when every weekend brings fresh competition.

For James Gunn, the question is no longer whether the DC Universe can launch. Superman answered that. The question now is whether the second act can hold an audience's attention — and whether Warner Bros. will grant the reboot enough runway to prove that one soft opening does not define a long-term strategy.