Supergirl might lose its IMAX screens to Toy Story 5. Is anybody shocked?
Nothing’s official. But the tracking keeps sliding, the early word is lukewarm, and we literally just watched Disney’s own Mandalorian movie get bumped off IMAX early. The screens follow the money, and right now the money’s on the toys.
Let me be upfront about what this is and isn’t. Nobody has announced Supergirl losing its IMAX and premium screens. There’s no booking memo, no studio statement, nothing official. This is speculation.
But it’s the kind of speculation that wouldn’t surprise anyone who’s been paying attention, because we just watched it happen to a much bigger movie a few weeks ago.
The thing that already happened to Mando
Here’s the precedent, and it’s a fresh one.
The Mandalorian and Grogu opened in May with a full IMAX run booked, three weeks of premium screens, the whole rollout a Star Wars movie usually gets. Then it had a soft couple of weekends, and IMAX cut the run short to hand those screens to Masters of the Universe starting June 5. A Star Wars movie, a Disney movie, evicted from the big screens early because something newer looked like a better bet.
That’s not a hypothetical about how exhibitors behave. That’s a real thing that happened to one of Disney’s own tentpoles six weeks ago. So when people start wondering whether Supergirl could get the same treatment, they’re not pulling it out of nowhere. They’re pattern-matching off the last movie that walked into a tough spot.
Why Supergirl’s in that spot
And Supergirl is walking into a tough spot.
Toy Story 5 just opened to a franchise-record $160 million, and Pixar movies don’t fall off a cliff in week two. Its second weekend lands on the exact frame Supergirl opens, June 26. There are only so many IMAX houses in the country, they’re the highest-earning screens in any theater, and when a record-setting holdover is sitting right there, exhibitors have every reason to keep those screens pointed at the sure thing.
Meanwhile Supergirl‘s own numbers keep drifting the wrong way. Tracking that started around $55 million has slid toward a $40 million floor, opening in fewer theaters than Superman did last year. And the first reactions, out this week, were politely lukewarm.
Deadline rounded them up as “mixed.” Critics liked Milly Alcock and Jason Momoa‘s Lobo plenty, but Mama’s Geeky landed on “just fine” and Nerd Reactor called it “bland.” Good notes for the leads, shrug for the movie.
The one real breadcrumb
There’s one actual data point under all the speculation, and it’s worth a mention.
Warner Bros. quietly pulled the IMAX line from its official sheet for Clayface, its DC horror movie due in October. The format was listed a month ago; now it’s gone. That’s not Supergirl, but it’s the same studio trimming premium-format plans on a DC release, which is the kind of small move that tells you how fast these things shift when the schedule gets crowded. For now, Supergirl itself is still booked into IMAX for the 26th.
So, will it actually happen?
Maybe. If Supergirl opens soft and Toy Story 5 holds like Pixar movies do, the math gives theater owners a real reason to keep the big screens on the cartoon, and Kara could see her premium count shrink fast. That’s not a prediction, it’s just where the incentives point.
The other side is real too. The reactions were mixed, not brutal, and Alcock and Momoa are the kind of breakout-praise combo that travels by word of mouth. A movie people actually like can shrug off bad tracking and hang onto its screens. Supergirl could open fine and make this whole conversation moot by Saturday.
But the trend’s been pointing one way for weeks, and the last Disney-adjacent tentpole that hit this exact turbulence got bounced off IMAX before its run was supposed to end.
Kara’s not in trouble because anyone announced anything. She’s in trouble because the screens follow the money, and at the moment, the money’s parked firmly on the toys.
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Article compiled and edited by Derek Gibbs (entertainment editor) and the Clownfish TV newsroom.
Hat Tips:
Deadline (June 19, 2026), Armando Tinoco reporting, verified for the “mixed” first reactions and the praise for Alcock and Momoa
Inverse and Fantha Tracks (May–June 2026), verified for The Mandalorian and Grogu losing its IMAX run early to Masters of the Universe after a soft second weekend
Cosmic Book News (June 2026), which surfaced the Supergirl premium-screen angle and the Clayface IMAX-billing change, verified for the ERC forecast and the production-sheet catch
Box Office Pro and Puck (June 2026), verified for the Supergirl tracking slide toward the $40 million range
IBTimes and Variety (June 21, 2026), verified for Toy Story 5’s $160 million franchise-record opening and Pixar’s strong second-weekend holds