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This weekend saw the release of just the second feature film in Warner Bros. new DCU franchise, bringing all the heroes and villains of DC Comics into films and television for an interconnected transmedia storytelling series they hoped could rival the MCU. Last summer it seemed like DC might actually be able to do it, with Superman bringing in more at the global box office than any of the three movies Marvel Studios released. With the debut of Supergirl this past weekend, though, the bloom appears to have fallen off the rose just as quickly as it sprouted.
Over the weekend, Supergirl premiered to an estimated $38 million at the domestic box office, landing it in second place for the weekend overall behind Toy Story 5‘s massive second weekend with $70 million. When combining Supergirl‘s domestic total with the international haul of an additional $30 million, the film had a global opening of $68 million, a pretty major far cry from just last summer when Superman opened with $220 million. Suffice it to say, Supergirl being a box office bomb was clear by Friday night, and now the figures of how much money Warner Bros. stands to lose on the film have started to become clear, with reports revealing it could be $85 million or even as high as $120 million.
Supergirl’s Box Office Losses Could Total $100 Million
According to a report from Variety, Supergirl carries a budget of $170 million, with the studio spending another $120 million on marketing. The traditional formula for success with a blockbuster this size would mean that it would likely need to gross almost $400 million to break even, but the trade notes that a “source close” to the production tallied the breakeven number for the film as being “closer to $300 million.”
It’s unclear exactly what source revealed this to the trade, but considering the current trajectory of Supergirl, the film could very well end its theatrical run with a $200 million total worldwide, a figure that would mean it lost almost $120 million if the worst were to happen. The trade goes on to note that another source believes “the losses will be closer to $80 million to $85 million”
Since the first figures for Supergirl‘s opening weekend started to roll in, the narrative was already forming about what kind of “bomb” it was at the box office. Many were quick to point out that the film had actually made less money in its opening weekend than Morbius, an attempted “gotcha” to imply that it was either on par with or even lesser in quality than the Jared Leto-starring movie.
To that end, though, even if Supergirl loses the biggest figure possible that is being talked about in the press, $120 million, that still wouldn’t make it the worst loss in the history of movies based on DC Comics. 2023’s The Flash grossed over $271 million globally against a reported budget of around $220 million. With other added costs, it’s been revealed that the film lost the studio as much as $155 million just three years ago.
Another high-profile DC bomb arrived just a year later, too, with 2024’s Joker: Folie à Deux reportedly losing the studio more than $144 million. One reason that film was a more costly flop for the studio compared to Supergirl, though, as noted by Variety, is that it had backend deals with stars Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga, something that Milly Alcock reportedly wouldn’t receive for Supergirl unless the film cleared specific box office markers.
There’s still another high-profile DC Comics bomb that eclipses the figures already being tossed around for Supergirl, though, 2020’s Wonder Woman 1984, which may have lost the studio as much as $135 million. Since that sequel was released amid the COVID-19 pandemic, though, it’s tough to say how successful it really was anyway.
Time will tell where Supergirl lands in the DC Comics movie bombs list, anyway, but for now, the film seems poised to join the ranks of Black Adam (lost $100 million) and Green Lantern (lost $90 million) as pretty big bombs for the studio. Despite all the money lost, it’s still not the worst they’ve seen (and rebounded back from).
Determining the worth of a film based solely on its box office earnings, though, is also a fool’s errand, and rooting for a movie to lose money to prove some kind of culture war point is even worse. For the fans that saw and enjoyed Supergirl, it doesn’t matter how much money the film made, with the experience itself offering meaning for them beyond the monetary worries of a studio they likely don’t actually have any vested interest in. The point of making art, even big-budget superhero movies, isn’t just the financial incentive, especially not for the audience.
Some of the biggest box office bombs of their day have become classic films, and though it’s too early to tell if the same fate will await Supergirl in a few years, fans already know that Milly Alcock’s character will return to the big screen. Supergirl will be back in next summer’s Man of Tomorrow, and her appearance there could easily revive interest in her solo movie when the dust and clutter of negative reception and online dogpiling as moved on to something else.
Supergirl Box Office Explained: 3 Reasons Why It Had a Low Opening Weekend
