DC Studios just watched Supergirl crash and burn at the box office — earning $38 million when it needed more than triple that just to break even.

Story Snapshot

• Supergirl opened to $38 million domestically, far below the $50–55 million forecast and less than a third of Superman’s $125 million debut.
• The film scored a B-minus CinemaScore and a 56% Rotten Tomatoes rating — weak numbers by any standard.
• Variety’s critic called the script “super horrendous” and the worst he had seen in any comic book film.
• DC Studios is projected to lose between $80 million and $120 million on the film, which needed roughly $375 million worldwide to profit.

The Numbers Tell a Brutal Story

Supergirl needed a miracle and got a disaster instead. The film pulled in $38 million on opening weekend — roughly 30% of what the preceding Superman film earned in its debut. Studios project a global run that will not come close to the $375 million break-even point. Losses could hit $120 million before the film leaves theaters. That is not a stumble. That is a collapse.

The audience score made things worse. A B-minus CinemaScore means the people who actually paid to see it walked out underwhelmed. Only 52% of viewers said they would “definitely recommend” the film, compared to 74% for Superman. Word of mouth is the lifeblood of a blockbuster run. With numbers like that, the second weekend was always going to be ugly.

Critics Did Not Hold Back

Variety’s Owen Gleiberman did not mince words. He called the script “super horrendous” and gave it the worst rating of any comic book film he had reviewed. The Hollywood Reporter called it a “fourth-rate Mad Max ripoff.” Others flagged the dark tone — animal cruelty, human trafficking — as a bizarre mismatch for a superhero film aimed at families and young women. The CGI for Krypto, Supergirl’s dog, was singled out as embarrassingly poor. These are craft failures, plain and simple.

The Rotten Tomatoes score of 56% puts the film in the same territory as films audiences forget within a month. That is not a politically charged number. It is a quality verdict from critics across the spectrum. When the left-leaning film press and the right-leaning commentary class agree a movie is bad, the movie is bad.

The “Woke Flop” Debate Is Real — But Complicated

Here is where it gets interesting. Sixty percent of the opening weekend audience was male. The film was marketed heavily toward young women and girls. That demographic gap is a real data point, and it raises a fair question: did the studio misjudge its audience? The honest answer is yes — but the reasons are layered. The script was grim and poorly executed. The release landed one week after Toy Story 5, which earned $70 million in its second weekend while Supergirl was pulling its opening $38 million. Timing, tone, and quality all worked against it at once.

Some box office analysts believe Supergirl may not even reach $130M worldwide if it drops 70% or more this weekend.

Just two weeks ago, the film was tracking for a $55–60M opening weekend and a $300M+ global theatrical run. pic.twitter.com/iskG2WHRGq

— Cinema Talks (@TheCinemaTalks) July 3, 2026

The “woke flop” label gets applied like clockwork every time a female-led superhero film underperforms. The Marvels got the same treatment in 2023. Eternals before that. The pattern is real, but the label often does more heat than light. No internal studio memo has surfaced proving DC built this film around a political strategy rather than a story. What we do have is a film that critics across the board called derivative, dark, and dull — and an audience that stayed home regardless of their politics.

What DC Studios Actually Faces Now

DC Studios co-chief James Gunn has not blamed “woke” messaging. He has pointed to the script and direction. That is the honest reckoning. Director Craig Gillespie delivered a film that lacked the energy, humor, and coherence audiences expect from a superhero blockbuster. The studio bet big on a character reboot and got a film that felt small, joyless, and rushed. That is a creative failure — and creative failures cost real money.

The larger question for DC Studios is what comes next. One bad film does not sink a franchise — Batman v Superman nearly did, and the studio survived. But losing $100 million-plus on a reboot meant to launch a new era sends a clear signal: audiences will not show up out of loyalty to a brand. They show up for a great story, told well. Supergirl was neither, and the box office said so without ambiguity.

Sources:

youtube.com, the-numbers.com, variety.com, deadline.com, facebook.com