DC Studios co-head Peter Safran admits Supergirl 'didn't meet our box office expectations' but it doesn't sound like it'll force him and James Gunn to revise their ambitious plan for the DCU

Date:
Mon, 29 Jun 2026 12:00:00 +0000

Description:
Despite its disastrous $68 million opening weekend haul, Supergirl won't derail the wider strategy for the DC Universe.

FULL STORY ======================================================================Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Threads Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter DC Studios won't alter its long-term vision for its cinematic universe That's what co-CEO Peter Safran told one reporter after Supergirl 's disastrous launch The Milly Alcock-fronted film earned just $68 million during its opening weekend It appears that it's damage limitation time for DC Studios.

After Supergirl launched and subsequently bombed at the global box office, the comic book giant's movie and TV division is seemingly refusing to alter its wider plan for its nascent cinematic universe. Indeed, speaking to The
New York Times (NYT) in the wake of Supergirl 's disastrous opening weekend performance, DC Studios co-chief Peter Safran insisted that he, fellow studio head James Gunn, and parent company Warner Bros. "remain confident in" the long-term vision for the DC Universe ( DCU ). That's despite Safran's admittence that the Milly Alcock-starring movie "didn't meet our box office expectations". Latest Videos From Watch full video here:

Such a statement is a, well, understatement. Following its June 26 release, the film formerly known as Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow suffered something of a catastrophic debut. As NYT's report noted, the DCU Chapter One earned a paltry $68 million worldwide $38 million in North America and $30 million internationally during its first four days in theaters.

To put the first of those figures in frighteningly bleak context, the much-maligned Spider-Man spin-off flick Morbius , aka the vampiric anti-hero film starring Jared Leto, made just $39 million in North America during its own miserably opening weekend in late 2022. You may like Supergirl review: Milly Alcock movie fails to do justice to the graphic novel it's inspired by Final trailer for Supergirl shows why it's no longer called Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow The new Supergirl trailer gave me chills but I'm worried it
won't be the DC comic book movie adaptation I was hoping for

What makes Supergirl 's performance all the worse is, at the time of publication, it holds a middling 56% critical score on review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes. Meanwhile, Morbius has been sat at a life-draining 15% for almost four years. The fact that the second DCU Chapter One movie
made $1 million less in North America than Morbius, then, should really set the alarm bells ringing at DC Studios HQ. Why didn't Supergirl fly higher at the global box office? Supergirl might have flown into theaters, but it's already crashed down to Earth with a bump (Image credit: Warner Bros. Pictures/DC Studios) There are numerous reasons that can be pointed to, including the ongoing superhero fatigue debate, prioritizing a new Supergirl movie over, say, a film starring another of DC Comics' so-called Holy Trinity in Batman and Wonder Woman , and perhaps most crucial of all word of mouth. After all, where the last of those reasons is concerned, movies can live or die on what critics and/or general audiences not only think of them, but say about them. You can see what I thought of the Alcock-led adventure via my own Supergirl review . Get daily insight, inspiration and deals in your inbox
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But I digress. In my view, there's another major cause for Supergirl's incredibly poor performance worldwide and it's got to do with two powerhouse animated film franchises: Toy Story and Minions .

Where the former is concerned, the critical reception to its fifth
installment was as mixed as Supergirl 's was. Heck, in my Toy Story 5 review
, I gave it three out of five stars, which the same score Supergirl earned.

Nevertheless, Toy Story 's immense popularity means it can for now, at least
withstand any negativity that comes its way. That much is clear based on its own worldwide ticket sales, which have seen Toy Story 5 rack up an almighty $585 million (per Variety ) in its first 12 days in theaters.

Then we come to the other aforementioned billion dollar-spinning film series in Minions . With its next story Minions and Monsters set to not only
arrive on July 3, but also predicted to make a similarly huge sum of cash,
the timing of Supergirl 's release couldn't have been worse. Maybe if its launch had been held back until August when its biggest competitor would arguably have been the next Insidious film, it might have soared higher.

For more on the latest DCU project, check out my Supergirl ending explained piece to see how it potentially sets up Man of Tomorrow, aka the sequel to last year's Superman film. Alternatively, see when Supergirl might come to
HBO Max . Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds.



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