DC Studios Boss Breaks Silence On Supergirl Flopping At The Box Office

The "Supergirl" box office numbers are in, and they're not exactly "super." The latest film in James Gunn's much-hyped DC Universe hit theaters on Friday and over the weekend took in about $38M domestically. Projections have it coming in slightly lower than "Morbius" (which actually turned a profit despite its flop status) and notorious superhero box office failure "The Marvels." This is rather grim news, and fans are taking it as a bad sign for the fledgling DCU, especially since this is only the second feature film in the ongoing superhero universe (the first was Gunn's "Superman," which did better, box-office-wise, and which I liked quite a bit).

Talk of "Supergirl" underperforming has gotten so loud that Peter Safran, co-chairman and co-chief executive of DC Studios with Gunn, has weighed in. Speaking with the NY Times, Safran said: "While 'Supergirl' didn't meet our box office expectations, it's just one component of a broader, long-term strategy at DC Studios that we remain confident in."

This is pretty boilerplate stuff; it's company-line-speak with Safran essentially saying "Okay, this didn't do well, but it's only one part of our overall plan." And to be fair, the once-mighty Marvel Cinematic Universe didn't exactly hit a homerun every time it was at the plate during its first phase, so the failure of "Supergirl" isn't exactly unheard of. But Safran feeling the need to weigh-in like this does seem a bit unprecedented.

Look, I'm no box office analyst. In fact, I kind of loathe box office talk in general, because it frequently has film fans trying to talk like studio execs, and that's a bit embarrassing. And by now, we should all know that box office results aren't indicative of quality: there are plenty of box office hits that are terrible, and plenty of flops that are hidden gems.

As for "Supergirl," the deck seemed stacked against the film for a while now. The trailers have all been a bit underwhelming (they've all been visually bland, bathed in sickly yellow light), and when reviews hit, they were a bit mixed — although our own BJ Colangelo liked the film quite a bit, and even negative reviews point out that star Milly Alcock is doing a great job in the lead role. The bottom line here might just be that the age of hit superhero movies really is in its twilight phase. Heavy-hitter characters like Batman and Spider-Man will seemingly always do well, but more "obscure" characters will have an uphill battle.

As for the DC Universe, the next film being released under the banner is "Clayface," due out in October. The trailer for that film was pretty good, leaning into horror movie elements. But will that be enough to draw in an audience? Or will "Clayface" suffer a similar fate as "Supergirl"? And what about "Man of Tomorrow," the "Superman" sequel Gunn is currently filming? Time will tell.