‘Supergirl’ Box Office Previews Put It on Track to Land Between ‘The Flash’ and ‘The Marvels’
The early box office returns are in for ‘Supergirl,’ and they are painting a sobering picture for DC Studios. Box office tracking firm Exhibitor Relations noted that the film’s Thursday preview number positions it somewhere between two of the superhero genre’s more troubled recent outings, and the comparison is not one Warner Bros. was hoping for heading into the weekend.
Domestic previews came in at $7.8 million, combining Wednesday fan events and Thursday showtimes that began at 3 p.m. That figure lands above ‘The Marvels,‘ which earned $6.6 million in its own preview period, but falls short of ‘The Flash,’ which had pulled in $9.7 million. The placement between those two films is particularly notable given that both struggled to cross $300 million globally.
‘Supergirl’ is projected to make between $47 million and $50 million for the full opening weekend, though independent models have been trending lower, and the film carries a $170 million production budget plus significant worldwide marketing costs. More worrying is the early audience reception, as the film is sitting at a 78% audience score alongside a 59% critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes, both well below last year’s ‘Superman.’
The critical divide has been sharp from the start. The Hollywood Reporter’s chief film critic David Rooney described the film as an “uninspired slog,” while still praising Milly Alcock’s performance as “an appealingly punky protagonist.” Alcock plays Kara Zor-El in the follow-up to last summer’s ‘Superman,’ which launched James Gunn and Peter Safran’s rebooted DC slate with a $618 million global haul.
The cast assembled around Alcock is genuinely strong on paper. Jason Momoa joins the film as comics bad boy Lobo, with Matthias Schoenaerts, Eve Ridley, David Krumholtz and Emily Beecham rounding out the ensemble, while David Corenswet reprises his role as Superman. The story is adapted from Tom King’s acclaimed graphic novel and follows Kara on an intergalactic adventure, a premise that generated real early buzz before reviews softened enthusiasm.
The film is entering a brutal competitive landscape, with ‘Toy Story 5’ expected to win its second weekend with an estimated $80 million to $90 million, and a loaded July ahead including ‘Minions and Monsters,’ ‘Moana,’ ‘The Odyssey,’ and ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day.’ For context, ‘Supergirl’ needs to gross at least $340 million globally to break even, a target that neither ‘The Marvels’ at $206 million nor ‘The Flash’ at $271 million came close to reaching during their respective runs.
Not everything is a red flag heading into the weekend. Deadline reported that the film has over 80 sponsorship partners delivering more than $100 million in combined media value through advertising, retail placement and digital impressions, which may reduce the effective break-even point significantly. Whether those deals are enough to soften the blow of a soft theatrical launch will become clearer as Sunday’s final numbers roll in.
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