Supergirl bombs at the box office with $38 million, less than Morbius
It came in below even the lowest projections. Supergirl opened to just $38 million domestically against a $170 million budget, the DCU’s first real box office flop. Now DC Studios boss Peter Safran has put out a statement. Here are the numbers and the response.
It’s official, and it’s rough. Supergirl opened to just $38 million domestically, coming in below even the lowest pre-weekend estimates.
For a movie that cost a reported $170 million to make, that’s a genuine flop, the first real box office miss for the rebooted DC Universe. And now DC Studios co-boss Peter Safran has issued a statement. Here’s where it all stands.
The numbers
Let’s start with the cold figures, because they’re stark.
Supergirl earned about $38 million domestically and roughly $68 million worldwide in its opening weekend. Tracking had already slid for weeks, from a $55 million-plus start down toward the low $40 millions, but the actual result landed under even those lowered projections.
That’s a weak debut for any big-budget release, let alone a superhero tentpole. The film also lost its own opening weekend to Toy Story 5, which pulled around $70 million in its second weekend on the way past $300 million domestic. Supergirl opened in second place behind a cartoon that had already been out two weeks.
The comparisons that sting
To see how soft $38 million is, look at what it’s near, and what it’s far from.
The most painful comparison is to its own predecessor. Last year’s Superman opened to $125 million and went on to gross $618 million worldwide. Supergirl did less than a third of Superman’s opening. That’s the opposite of the momentum a shared universe is supposed to build.
It opened in the neighborhood of some notorious comic-book disappointments. Its $38 million is just below the $39 million debut of 2022’s Morbius, a film that became a punchline and finished with only $167 million worldwide. It also opened just above the $37.6 million debut of Joker: Folie à Deux, one of 2024’s most infamous flops.
The break-even problem
A $170 million production budget, plus a marketing spend typically running tens of millions more, means Supergirl likely needs to clear somewhere around $300 million worldwide just to break even theatrically. It’s currently sitting at about $68 million.
For perspective, analysts note it’s now unlikely to even pass the $271 million global total of 2023’s The Flash, itself considered a major DC bust. Getting from $68 million to $300 million from this kind of start would take an extraordinary turnaround, and a 4th-of-July weekend bump is unlikely to bridge that gap.
What Peter Safran said
This is the part that has the industry talking. DC Studios didn’t stay quiet.
In a statement to the New York Times on Sunday, DC Studios co-chairman and co-CEO Peter Safran acknowledged the miss while signaling confidence in the bigger plan:
“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.”
In other words: yes, this one underperformed, but we’re playing a long game. It’s a measured response, owning the disappointment without panicking, and pointing to the slate ahead rather than this single result.
What comes next for DC
So what is that broader strategy Safran is leaning on? Here’s the road map.
DC Studios has several projects lined up. Next up is Clayface, a $40 million horror film based on the shape-shifting Batman villain, due in theaters October 23. After that comes the big one: Man of Tomorrow, a Superman sequel written and directed by James Gunn, set for July 9, 2027. A Lanterns series is also expected on HBO.
Safran’s point is that the DCU is built to be a years-long, interconnected franchise, not a one-film referendum. The plan was always to mix big Superman tentpoles with riskier bets on lesser-known characters. Supergirl was one of those riskier bets, and it didn’t connect.
The bigger picture
Here’s the honest, mathematical read.
The number is the number, and $38 million against a $170 million budget is a flop, full stop. Coming in under even the lowest projections, doing less than a third of Superman’s opening, and facing a break-even line it’s unlikely to reach, this is a real setback for DC, and it arrives just as a new corporate owner, the Ellison-led group taking over Warner Bros., prepares to evaluate the whole operation.
But Safran’s framing isn’t wrong either: one movie doesn’t make or break a decade-long plan, Superman proved the reboot could work, and the slate continues. The box office is the only honest scoreboard, and this weekend it delivered a clear verdict on Supergirl specifically. Whether that verdict says anything about the DCU as a whole is the question the next few movies will answer.
For now, the scoreboard reads $38 million, DC owns it, and the long game just got a lot more pressure on it.
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Article compiled and edited by Derek Gibbs (entertainment editor) and the Clownfish TV newsroom.
Hat Tips:
TheWrap and Deadline (June 28, 2026), verified for the $38M domestic / $68M global opening, Peter Safran’s full NYT statement, the Morbius comparison, the break-even context, and the Clayface/Man of Tomorrow slate
The Hollywood Reporter and Variety (June 27-28, 2026), verified for the $170M budget, the sub-projection result, the Toy Story 5 second-weekend figure, and the pre-weekend tracking slide from $55M to the low $40Ms
ScreenRant (June 28, 2026), verified for the less-than-a-third-of-Superman comparison, the $618M Superman global total, the Joker: Folie à Deux comparison, and the eventual-break-even-via-ancillaries note
New York Times (June 28, 2026), the original source of Peter Safran’s statement on the box office performance