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Supergirl's box office is far from what DC would have wanted, and the film's new low for the comic book giant might mean some alarms should be sounded. The DCU Chapter One had its first few projects announced in January 2023. Since then, the franchise has shifted, with projects that were originally on DC's slate of releases being put on the back burner.
Parallel to that, Gunn has also moved forward with movies and TV shows that were originally not part of the slate revealed for the DCU, such as Clayface, which comes out on October 23, and the Jimmy Olsen Superman spinoff series for HBO Max, which should start filming shortly. That said, Supergirl was always part of the plan for the DCU.
The movie had huge potential, as it was set to adapt Tom King's universally beloved Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow comics. However, Supergirl did not fly as high as DC had hoped, with the film sitting at a disappointing 53% critics' score on Rotten Tomatoes and just a decent 74% audience score. That has translated into a poor box office run.
The second movie in Gunn's DCU has amassed only $120.9 million worldwide at the time of writing. Supergirl has yet to pass notorious superhero box office bombs like the $167.5 million Morbius. However, it faces a hard path ahead to do so, as the movie just hit a new low for the DC franchise, and it should be a cause for concern at DC Studios.
Supergirl Just Had The Worst Box Office Week 4 For DC Shared Universes
Supergirl just had a dark 4th weekend in theaters, with the DCU movie landing at a domestic 3-day of only $1.52 million. As such, Milly Alcock's Supergirl movie now holds the negative record of the worst 4th weekend for a DCEU or DCU movie. Given how the latter has only released James Gunn's Superman in addition to Supergirl, with that movie earning $13.7 million in week 4, the biggest comparisons come from the old DCEU movie franchise. That shared universe's worst performer in that timeframe was Shazam! Fury of the Gods, which was released in the DCEU's final year, with $1.6 million.
Supergirl almost matched its total. The DCU's second movie also stands below releases like Ezra Miller's The Flash, at $2.3 million, Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman 1984, at $2.1 million, Blue Beetle, $3.8 million, and the rest of the DCEU. That is a symptom of a larger box office problem. Supergirl had a reported budget of $170 million, which means the film needed to finish between $340 million and $425 million to break even. Supergirl will not be able to get close to the lower end of that projection, as it has shown no box office legs. DC needs to fix that.
James Gunn's DCU Might Need To Sound The Alarm
The DCEU was a divisive franchise for nearly all of its run, which culminated in all the four movies that were released in the shared universe's final year underperforming at the box office. Everyone favored Gunn's new DCU because it was supposed to be better than what came before and closer to the comics. However, Supergirl puts that into dispute. The DCU movie had one of DC's best comic book stories ever featuring Supergirl as the basis for its story, and it failed to show the same kind of staying power that Gunn's Superman had in 2025.
The DCU having its second movie break all-time negative DC records, such as the lowest week 4 in DCEU and DCU history, was not the expected result, and with major characters that can attract viewers to theaters like Batman and Wonder Woman still having no set dates to make their DCU debuts, the franchise's future continues to be in flux. Supergirl's box office performance is not the end of the DCU, but it should sound an alarm, as a pivot to fan-favorite characters with proven box office power might be what is needed right now.
