Supergirl dropped 77% in week 2, almost as bad as Joker 2
Supergirl’s second-weekend collapse got revised downward, with daily drops as steep as 80%, capping one of the worst runs in superhero movie history. Now some in the industry are quietly asking whether James Gunn’s DC job is safe. Here’s the real math, and the honest answer.
The Supergirl box office story just went from bad to worse. Its already-brutal second-weekend numbers were revised down, confirming one of the ugliest collapses in modern superhero movie history, and now the conversation has shifted to an uncomfortable question: is James Gunn‘s job running DC Studios actually in danger?
The numbers got worse
When the dust settled, Supergirl‘s second-weekend drop finalized at roughly 74%, per Box Office Mojo, landing at about $9.6 million. That’s slightly worse than some initial estimates, and it’s DC’s second-worst sophomore-weekend decline ever, trailing only Joker: Folie à Deux (81%). It fell harder than infamous bombs like The Marvels (78%), Morbius (74%), and The Flash (72%).
But the daily breakdown is even more alarming. The film’s second Friday plunged a staggering 80.4% from its opening day. Its Saturday dropped about 77% from the previous Saturday, and this over the Fourth of July holiday, normally a box-office boost. Its domestic total now sits around $58 million, against a budget reported anywhere from $170 million to as high as $275 million. A film that needed north of $200 million just to break even may struggle to reach $80 million domestically.
It got beaten by a $20 million indie
Here’s the humiliating cherry on top.
Supergirl didn’t just fall, it got lapped. The faith-based, patriotic biopic Young Washington, made for a mere $20 million, opened to around $21 million and comfortably out-grossed the $200-million-plus DC tentpole over the holiday weekend. It also holds a strong 92% audience score to Supergirl‘s more muted reception. A tiny indie beating a superhero blockbuster is the kind of result that gets noticed in boardrooms.
So is James Gunn in trouble?
Two movies into his grand plan to rebuild DC, Gunn has a moderate success (Superman) and now a genuine catastrophe (Supergirl). Predictably, that’s fueled online chatter that his position atop DC Studios could be at risk. But it’s important to separate real, structural concerns from wishful speculation.
The legitimate worry isn’t really about this one flop, it’s about timing and ownership. As previously reported by The Hollywood Reporter, Gunn and co-CEO Peter Safran’s DC contracts are said to run out around the end of 2026 or 2027.
And that lines up with a massive change at the top: Paramount Skydance, controlled by the Ellison family, is in the process of acquiring Warner Bros. Discovery. When that deal closes, DC lands under new ownership, and new owners aren’t obligated to renew executives they inherited.
That’s the real, sourced basis for “Gunn might be done”, not a single bad weekend, but a contract clock ticking down just as a new regime walks in holding a flop.
Why did it really flop?
It’s tempting to pin Supergirl‘s failure on controversy, star Milly Alcock’s much-discussed press-tour comments certainly generated backlash and didn’t help. But those are a footnote, not the cause.
The core problem is simpler and more boring: the movie is mid. It landed a mixed 55% with critics, tested poorly for months before release, and gave audiences no urgent reason to show up in a year when “pretty good” doesn’t sell tickets and streaming is weeks away.
The proof is in that Young Washington comparison. It didn’t win because of politics, it won because it had a 92% audience score, zero competition for its crowd, and perfect holiday timing.
Both results come down to the oldest rule in the business: audiences turned out for the movie they wanted to see and skipped the one they didn’t. No culture war required to explain it.
Supergirl’s box office and James Gunn: what it comes down to
Supergirl‘s revised ~74% collapse, with daily drops touching 80%, is a confirmed disaster and a real problem for DC Studios, no spin can soften that. And yes, it intensifies legitimate questions about James Gunn’s future, though those questions are driven far more by a looming corporate takeover than by this single flop.
The honest takeaway is that Gunn is under real pressure and a ticking contract clock, not a pink slip. And the movie itself failed for the least dramatic reason imaginable: it just wasn’t good enough to overcome a tough market. Sometimes a flop is just a flop.
The clock is ticking on Gunn’s DC. Whether it runs out depends on his next few movies, and on who owns the studio when it does.
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Article compiled and edited by Derek Gibbs (entertainment editor) and the Clownfish TV newsroom.
Hat Tips:
Box Office Mojo (via SuperHeroHype) and CBR (July 2026), verified for the finalized figures (the 74.1% second-weekend drop to ~$9.6 million, DC’s second-worst sophomore decline behind Joker: Folie à Deux’s 81%, the 80.4% Friday and 77% Saturday daily drops, the ~$58 million domestic total, and the comparisons to The Marvels, Morbius, and The Flash), and Gunn and Safran publicly remaining confident with Clayface (~$40 million budget) next
The Hollywood Reporter (via prior reporting) and CBR (July 2026), verified for the Gunn/Safran DC contracts reportedly running out around 2026-2027, the Paramount Skydance/Ellison-family acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery as the real basis for questions about Gunn’s future, Supergirl being the first DCU film Gunn didn’t write or direct, and the well-received status of his own Superman and Peacemaker projects
SuperHeroHype and CBR (July 2026), verified for the box-office context (the $37.1 million opening against $65 million tracking, the 55% critics/76-77% audience Rotten Tomatoes split, the mixed reviews), and Young Washington’s ~$21 million opening on a $20 million budget with a 92% audience score outperforming Supergirl over the holiday weekend