Following Supergirl’s misfire at the box office, the film is now set to lose Warner Bros more than US$100 million after it concludes its theatrical run.
As reported by Variety, Supergirl is projected to stall at a lifetime gross of around US$200 million globally, and even if it can secure these earnings, it still stands to lose Warner Bros US$100 million to US$120 million in its theatrical run. Warner Bros. and DC spent $170 million to produce Supergirl and $120 million for marketing, with sources stating that the film would need around US$300 million to recoup its costs.
With these figures in mind, and considering that Supergirl saw a pretty disappointing opening weekend at the box office, the studio is in for an uphill battle, one that’s even more daunting thanks to a host of other blockbusters in the coming weeks. July is set to be a busy month for film, and will see the likes of Illumination’s Minions & Monsters on 1 July, New Line Cinema’s Evil Dead Burn and Disneys live-action Moana on 10 July, then closing off with two major hitters, Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey on 17 July and Sony Pictures’ Spider-Man: Brand New Day on 30 July.
“This was always going to be a tough hurdle for DC and Warner Bros. because Supergirl isn’t a character that has ever created an event-level blockbuster,” said Exhibitor Relations analyst Jeff Bock. “Audience perception of Supergirl was not good. This is just a case of the film wasn’t good enough to become an event.”
Even with Supergirl’s lacklustre performance, this doesn’t mean that the DC Universe as a whole would necessarily be in trouble. We’ve seen this happen before in Marvel’s own cinematic universe, with the second film in the MCU, 2008’s The Incredible Hulk, also launching to disappointing numbers, so much so that the role of Bruce Banner was then recast with Mark Ruffalo. Even then, the MCU would go on strong to what it is today, and similarly, the DC Universe has a whole slate of films to come to pick up Supergirl’s slack.
These include TV shows like Lanterns and the Jimmy Olsen series surrounding Gorilla Grodd, alongside a Clayface film in October. Beyond 2026, David Corenswet’s Superman, alongside Milly Alcock’s Supergirl, is also set to return for Man of Tomorrow in 2027, with the studio also planning to introduce Batman into the DC Universe with a Batman: The Brave and the Bold movie, alongside a planned Wonder Woman movie. One thing’s for sure, Supergirl might be in for a crash landing, but the DC Universe is showing no signs of slowing down.
Kevin is a reformed PC Master Race gamer with a penchant for franchise “duds” like Darksiders III and Dead Space 3. He has made it his life-long mission to play every single major game release – lest his wallet dies trying.
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