“Supergirl” has grossed $70M domestically and $120M worldwide against a budget reported to be anywhere between $170M and $186M. It’s turned into a problem for James Gunn’s DCU — Warner Bros.’ losses could hit as high as $200M.
It now looks like “Supergirl” will hit VOD next Tuesday, July 28 — around 30 days after its theatrical release. This one has quickly faded from public discussion with surprising speed.
This rapid transition to digital release is rather symbolic of its disappointing theatrical run. Who are we kidding? This film bombed at the box office. Its biggest problem wasn’t even widespread hatred, but cultural irrelevance: it arrived, received a mostly lukewarm response, nobody cared, and we all moved on.
The only scene people seem to remember is that horrible needle-drop near the climax, with virtually no memes, iconic clips, or viral moments circulating online. There’s been total indifference toward this film. It’s not even divisive — just, really, nothing.
Maybe it’s because the film was simply “okay”? That’s not good enough nowadays for a superhero movie to make big bucks. And it’s not like the source material lacked potential. Tom King’s “Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow” is a rather acclaimed work.
What we got instead was a semi-enjoyable film: watchable, fun in places, nothing more, nothing less. The villain was forgettable, the visuals were somewhat muted, and there was a lack of standout moments.
So, why did the film fail? Sure, there’s the quality aspect, but also, was there even demand for a Supergirl movie in the first place? At a time when more and more people look at Rotten Tomatoes as their final deciding factor for which movie to spend their hard-earned money on, a 53% RT score is a major red flag. Audiences are becoming less tolerant of mediocre entries, let alone one that already has an uphill battle compared to brands like Batman, Spider-Man, Deadpool, or the Avengers.
It was arguably insane for James Gunn to greenlight a near-$200M production like this — which really speaks to the self-aggrandizing confidence he seems to have. This will hopefully be a humbling moment for him as the DCU continues on.
Originally, Cregger was reported to be directing “Gladys.” He then dropped out. He was also supposed to co-write the script with Zach Shields, and apparently now he isn’t.