‘Supergirl’ Just Suffered One of the Worst Box Office Drops in Comic Book Movie History

The summer movie season has been a rollercoaster for superhero fans, and 2026 was supposed to mark a fresh start for DC Studios after the goodwill built by last year’s ‘Superman.’ James Gunn and Peter Safran’s rebooted DC Universe had positioned ‘Supergirl,’ starring Milly Alcock as Kara Zor-El, as its next major test, a film meant to prove the studio could thrive beyond projects Gunn directed himself. The stakes were especially high since it marked the division’s first feature not written and directed by Gunn following last year’s inaugural outing.

Early buzz around ‘Supergirl’ was mixed but not without hope. Professional reviews landed at a soft 54 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, yet audience scores were notably higher at 76 percent, suggesting the people who actually watched it were more forgiving than critics. That gap fueled some optimism that positive word of mouth might carry the film through its theatrical run the way it did for underperforming openers like Pixar’s ‘Elemental.’

That hope did not pan out. According to a widely shared post from verified film account DiscussingFilm, ‘Supergirl’ posted one of the biggest second weekend drops ever recorded for a comic book movie, falling 74.1 percent to just 9.6 million dollars domestically. Per Box Office Mojo, the film earned only 9.6 million dollars in its second frame across 3,602 theaters. That decline is steeper than infamous flops like ‘The Flash,’ which fell 72.5 percent, and ‘Morbius,’ which dropped 73.8 percent.

The numbers only get grimmer under the hood. Friday grosses alone plunged 80.4 percent from opening day to just 3.6 million dollars, while Saturday brought in an estimated 2.6 million dollars despite the Independence Day holiday boost. The per theater average collapsed to 2,665 dollars, a steep fall from the 10,300 dollar average the film managed on its debut weekend.

‘Supergirl’ opened to just over 37 million dollars domestically against pre release tracking that had once suggested figures as high as 65 million dollars. The production budget has been estimated anywhere between 170 million and 186 million dollars, not including a marketing spend reportedly north of 100 million dollars. As the DiscussingFilm post noted, the film has now crossed the 100 million dollar mark worldwide, but that milestone looks far less impressive against such a costly production.

Context makes the stumble sting even more. Angel Studios’ low budget release ‘Young Washington,’ made on just 20 million dollars, pulled in roughly 21 million dollars in its own opening weekend with a per theater average nearly triple that of ‘Supergirl.’ ‘Young Washington’ also carries a 92 percent positive audience score, hinting at stronger word of mouth ahead even as ‘Supergirl’ loses screens in the weeks to come.

DC Studios has publicly framed the misfire as a single bump in a longer road, pointing to upcoming titles like ‘Clayface’ and ‘Man of Tomorrow’ as proof the larger plan remains intact. Still, for a franchise trying to build momentum after ‘Superman’s success, a collapse of this size is hard to ignore. Do you think ‘Supergirl’ can recover any ground in its remaining theatrical run, or has this DCU stumble already sealed its fate?