Supergirl ticket pre-sales are pretty bad, actually?
Supergirl sold approximately 110,000 tickets in its first 24 hours of availability for around $1.75 million in pre-sales, lower than Black Widow, Thunderbolts, Captain America 4 and more.
The Supergirl pre-sale numbers are in. They’re not super.
Supergirl, the second film in James Gunn and Peter Safran’s rebooted DC Universe, sold approximately 110,000 tickets in its first 24 hours of availability for around $1.75 million in domestic pre-sales, according to figures from Portal Box Office and Cosmic Book News editor-in-chief Matt McGloin. The film stars Milly Alcock as Kara Zor-El and opens in theaters and IMAX on June 26, 2026.
The first 24-hour number is lower than several recent superhero benchmarks at the same stage. Black Widow sold around $1.99 million in its first 24 hours. Thunderbolts sold $1.85 million. Captain America: Brave New World sold $1.84 million. Even The Flash, which went on to gross under $300 million worldwide on a $200 million budget, sold $1.78 million in its first 24 hours.
The only major superhero film Supergirl comes out ahead of is The Marvels, which sold 95,000 tickets for $1.5 million at the same point and went on to become one of the biggest box office disasters in Marvel history.
The Brazilian pre-sales are even worse
International pre-sale data is following the same pattern. Per Portal Box Office on X (June 7, 2026): “As pré-vendas de ‘Supergirl’ seguem terríveis no Brasil. Um começo pior que The Flash.“ Translation: “Supergirl pre-sales remain terrible in Brazil. A start worse than The Flash.”
Brazil is one of the largest international markets for superhero films. The Flash comparison is unflattering. The Flash was widely considered a major flop.
The AMC app crash that wasn’t
A viral claim circulated on X earlier in the week that the AMC Theatres app crashed due to overwhelming Supergirl ticket demand. The DC Studios official accounts amplified the claim. Within hours, Community Notes and independent verification debunked it.
Per X user @Mannu4K (June 3, 2026): “Nice try. AMC’s app and website always throws you into that same generic queue when you enter the main page, not the actual ticket purchase page for a specific movie. As the video shows, I got into the Supergirl sales page, and only 3 seats had been sold.“
McGloin verified the same point at his own local theater: “In my area, the first screening has sold only six tickets. Two of them are mine.“
A one-minute AMC app queue when entering the main page is not the same thing as Supergirl breaking the internet. The AMC app routes users into queue screens by default during high-traffic periods regardless of which movie they intend to buy. The “crash” claim was hype that did not match the underlying data.
The competing narrative says pre-sales are actually fine
Some outlets have framed the same numbers more optimistically.
ComicBasics reported on June 9 that Supergirl is performing “roughly two and a half times better than The Marvels at the same stage of sales“ and “tracking close to Black Widow while running slightly ahead of Thunderbolts.“ Fiction Horizon ran similar coverage citing Global Box Office (@GlobalBoxOffice), which posted on X on June 8: “SUPERGIRL pre-sales are keeping a surprising good pace after a better-than-expected start last week. It’s now on track for a $60M-$77M opening weekend.“
Per Deadline‘s June 5 industry tracking, Supergirl is positioned for “$55 million-plus“ domestic opening on June 26.
The difference between the narratives comes down to what comparison set you use. Compared to The Marvels (a known disaster), Supergirl looks healthy. Compared to Black Widow, Captain America: Brave New World, and The Flash (all of which underperformed expectations), Supergirl looks weak.
Compared to its predecessor Superman, which opened to $125 million domestic in 2025, Supergirl looks substantially smaller.
The break-even number is the real concern
Supergirl carries a production budget reported between $170 million and $175 million by industry sources. James Gunn publicly dismissed a Forbes report of a $200 million production budget as “not even a little bit true.“
Per Deadline, the film needs approximately $315 million worldwide to break even once marketing and distribution costs are included. Financial analyst Valliant Renegade has argued worldwide marketing and distribution for a tentpole release of this scale could reasonably land between $125 million and $140 million, putting Warner Bros’ total invested commitment at roughly $300 million to $315 million before theaters take their share.
At a $55 million domestic opening, hitting $315 million globally requires extraordinary international performance and strong domestic legs. Both are achievable but neither is guaranteed.
The Milly Alcock controversy adds friction
The lead actress has also been generating headlines that may be affecting the marketing push.
Milly Alcock told Variety in a recent interview that she had not seen Black Widow, Captain Marvel, or Wonder Woman before taking on the Supergirl role, joking that it was “probably not great.“
Whether Alcock’s comments materially affected the female-driven superhero audience’s pre-sale behavior is hard to measure directly. The first 24-hour numbers came in below Black Widow, the film Alcock specifically said she had not seen. The correlation is not direct evidence of causation.
What Warner Bros needs
The pre-sale numbers are not destiny. Numbers can move. Toy Story 5 opens the week before Supergirl on June 19, which is direct competition for family audiences. The Wednesday early access screenings on June 24 and the Thursday previews will provide additional data points.
For DC Studios, the question is whether Supergirl can clear $60 million domestic and reach $315 million globally. A $47-55 million opening with weak international would trigger the kind of comparisons to The Marvels and The Flash that James Gunn and Peter Safran have been trying to avoid since Superman opened strong in 2025.
For audiences, the question is whether the film delivers. The Tom King and Bilquis Evely Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow source material is strong. Craig Gillespie is a competent director with Cruella and I, Tonya on his resume. Jason Momoa‘s Lobo is a long-awaited DCU debut.
Pre-sales measure pre-release marketing effectiveness. The actual film will determine whether the second half of the DCU rollout has legs or whether it joins the long list of female-led superhero films that opened soft and struggled to recover.
June 26 is the test.
Article compiled and edited by Derek Gibbs (entertainment editor) and the Clownfish TV newsroom.
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Hat Tips:
Cosmic Book News / Matt McGloin (June 7, 2026), primary source for the Supergirl first 24-hour pre-sales of approximately 110,000 tickets and $1.75 million, the comparison to Black Widow, Thunderbolts, Captain America: Brave New World, and The Flash, the McGloin personal verification of six tickets sold at his local theater, and the broader skeptical assessment that pre-sales do not look strong
Portal Box Office (@Boxreport) (June 7, 2026), primary source for the Brazilian pre-sales comparison including the “As pré-vendas de ‘Supergirl’ seguem terríveis no Brasil. Um começo pior que The Flash” direct quote
Cosmic Book News (June 4, 2026), primary source for the AMC app crash debunking including the Community Notes verification and the X user @Mannu4K direct quote “Nice try. AMC’s app and website always throws you into that same generic queue when you enter the main page, not the actual ticket purchase page for a specific movie”
Deadline (June 5, 2026), primary source for the $55 million-plus opening weekend tracking and the unaided awareness comparison to The Mandalorian and Grogu and Thunderbolts
Express Tribune / GamesRadar / Yahoo Entertainment / Geeks + Gamers (June 5-6, 2026), the $55 million opening projection, the $170-175 million production budget, the $315 million break-even worldwide requirement, and the Superman $125 million opening comparison
ComicBasics / Fiction Horizon / Global Box Office (@GlobalBoxOffice) (June 8-9, 2026), the competing pre-sale optimism narrative including the 2.5x better than The Marvels framing and the “$60M-$77M opening weekend” tracking update
Cosmic Book News (June 4, 2026), the Milly Alcock Variety interview controversy including the “had not watched Black Widow, Captain Marvel, or Wonder Woman” admission and the box office analyst Valliant Renegade response calling the comments “not good” and the interview “rough”
Forbes / James Gunn social media (mid-2025), the budget dispute including Gunn’s public dismissal of the $200 million production cost as “not even a little bit true”
The Wikipedia article on Supergirl (2026 film), the production timeline aggregator including the Tom King and Bilquis Evely Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow graphic novel source material