DC Studios took a big swing when it commissioned Supergirl as its second installment in the brand new DC Universe. While the Girl of Steel is an inherently popular character, she isn't one of DC's core trinity of heroes, the film was the second Super movie in as many years (Superman was a blockbuster hit in 2025), and the highly-successful Supergirl TV series was still fresh in the minds of longtime fans of the character. While there was always a well-deserved place for Kara Zor-El in the DCU, the film was unfortunately set up to fail.
Milly Alcock's heroine will return to the silver screen in next year's Superman sequel Man of Tomorrow, which is obviously a very good thing, but Supergirl's box office failure has dented the shiny new armor of the DC Universe far too soon into its existence. And in an era where franchise fatigue (also sometimes referred to as "superhero fatigue") has taken hold, that shouldn't have happened.
Unfortunately, this has resulted in the movie making unexpected DC history.
Supergirl is the most expensive box office disaster in DC movie history
Supergirl has officially finished its box office run with $125 million to its name in theatrical earnings. That makes it the lowest-grossing mainstream DC movie since 2004's Catwoman (which grossed $84 million but, when adjusted for inflation, would have made more than Supergirl). While 2010's Jonah Hex grossed much less than either of those films ($11 million), it was a lower-budget release that wasn't specifically marketed as a DC movie. And, as a result of that, Supergirl holds the crown for being the least-attended DC movie of the modern day superhero era.
What's much worse than that, however, is that is that reportedly has a net loss of around $240 million for DC Studios, which actually makes it the most expensive box office failure in DC's long movie history. That's a shocking thing to say out loud because, yes a lot of other DC movies have made less than this over the years, but Supergirl's massive budget of $170 million made breaking even a tall task. By the end of its opening weekend, it was clear that this simply wasn't going to happen during its theatrical run. And considering how it finished that run, it might not happen at all.
To put in perspective just how potentially catastrophic Supergirl's failure is, here's a list of the biggest net losses in DC movies history - just to give you an idea of where the DCU movie ranks:
- Supergirl (2026) - $200 - $240 million estimated net loss
- The Flash (2023) - $150 million estimated net loss
- Joker: Folie à Deux (2024) - $144 million estimated net loss
- Shazam! Fury of the Gods (2023) - $155 million estimated net loss
- Wonder Woman 1984 (2020) - $100 - $135 million estimated net loss
- The Suicide Squad (2021) - $120 million estimated net loss
- Green Lantern (2011) - $75 - $90 million estimated net loss
- Justice League (2017) - $60 - $100 million estimated net loss
Of the above movies, only Wonder Woman 1984 and The Suicide Squad get a pass as both would have likely reached their break-even point if the weren't released during the pandemic (and had to contend with a HBO Max day-and-date release as well) - which severely impacted their theatrical takings. So, the fact that Supergirl - a movie released at the height of the new DC Universe franchise, which didn't have those same issues to contend with, has lost the studio more money than they did is unfortunately not a hopeful sign for the movie.
The fact that it also shares the list with infamous DCEU flops The Flash, and Shazam! Fury of the Gods as well as the unexpectedly massive failure that was Joker 2 isn't a good look for the movie either. And it's really unfortunate because Milly Alcock and the Supergirl character deserved far, far better than this.
DC Studios and Warner Bros. Pictures have attempted to offset some of those losses by pulling Supergirl from movie theaters earlier than planned and releasing it on PVOD digital streaming services after just a month in cinemas. The film has performed well on digital since that July 28 release and the studio won't have to worry about sharing those earnings with the theater chains. But that likely only serve as a minor cushion for a massive blow.
Supergirl's box office failure was a prime case of bad timing
It's hard to argue that releasing Supergirl early was anything but a misfire. While there are arguments to be made about superhero fatigue, that's not the biggest issue here; no, that title belongs to the fact that it's not the superhero surge era anymore. In 2016, a Supergirl movie would have been massively successful - just as the critically-reviled Suicide Squad was. Everybody wanted to be Marvel Studios and, for a moment, everyone was afforded the chance to do that. And Warner Bros.' former DCEU was given multiple chances to succeed before fans finally switched off.
But now, after too many failures in the genre - specifically DC failures - fans are ready for something different. Supergirl caught the brunt of that. Even Superman, though wildly successful couldn't get close to $1 billion (and underperformed slightly outside of the US). The superhero boom that attracted mainstream moviegoers in the 2010s isn't there anymore. While some superheroes will still do that - Spider-Man: Brand New Day's record-breaking success is proof of that - in-built brands and better-known names are the ones that are still succeeding for their franchises now.
Had DC managed to establish Supergirl as a long-term DCU staple, then audiences might have come out to see her movie (heck, a lot more would have at least), but rushing out a spinoff to Superman so soon after the film's release (during which that character only made one drunken cameo) was not the way to do it. And now Supergirl is unfairly etched in the wrong halls of DC history.
Supergirl is now available for purchase on PVOD digital streaming platforms.
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