“Supergirl” key art featuring Milly Alcock.
Warner Bros.
The projected opening for Milly Alcock’s Supergirl is not flying up, up and away ahead of the film’s June 26 release in theaters.
That’s not good news for the already struggling DC Universe superhero film follow-up to 2025’s Superman, which introduced David Corenswet as the studio’s new Man of Steel. The first feature in James Gunn and Peter Safran’s DCU earned $125 million in its opening weekend July 11-13 last year.
After all theatrical receipts were counted, Superman — which featured Alcock’s Kara Zor-El in a cameo and revealed that she’s the owner of Krypto the Superdog — earned $354.2 million from North American theaters and $264 million internationally for a combined $618.7 million globally. According to Variety, Superman had a production budget of $225 million with another $125 million spent on marketing.
Nearly a year after Superman’s release, Supergirl is opening in theaters nationwide on Friday with far less fanfare. In a June 4 tracking report by Deadline, the trade publication projected that Supergirl was on track to earn $55 million, an amount less than half of Superman’s opening weekend. New information revealed on Thursday, however, paints an even bleaker picture.
In an X post from Puck News co-founder Matthew Belloni, the former Hollywood Reporter editor writes, “Pre-release tracking for SUPERGIRL has come down again, now sitting at $51M domestic for the 3-day opening, per NRG. SUPERMAN debuted to $125M last summer on much larger production and marketing budget.”
While Supergirl’s production budget isn’t larger than that of Superman, given that it’s a superhero film, it’s still pretty sizeable. Deadline reported that the film had a production budget of $175 million before marketing costs, $25 million less than the $200 million price tag Forbes Australia reported in December. Gunn disputed that number in a Threads post, writing, “Not even a little bit true.”
‘Supergirl’ Is Being Released Between Two Animated Dynamos
Directed by Craig Gillespie (I, Tonya, Pam & Tommy), Supergirl is set in outer space and has the title character on a mission of vengeance.
Supergirl also stars Jason Momoa as DC anti-hero Lobo and Matthias Schoenaerts as the villainous Krem of the Yellow Hills, while Eve Ridley plays Supergirl’s ally Ruthye Marye Knoll. David Krumholtz and Emily Beecham play Supergirl’s dad and mom, Zor-El and Alura Zor-El, while David Corenswet returns as Superman.
While Matthew Belloni’s post reflects a drop in Supergirl’s already-low opening projections, making the release even more challenging for the superhero film is the positioning of its release. After opening with $160 million at the domestic box office this weekend, Toy Story 5 — even if its box office dropped by 60% (which is very unlikely) — a $64 million domestic second weekend take by the Disney-Pixar film would still be more than enough to best Supergirl’s current tracking number of $51 million.
On top of that, Supergirl has five days in theaters before another animated behemoth opens with Minions and Monsters, which is getting a jump on the 4th of July weekend by opening on Wednesday, July 1. In early tracking numbers for the film from Box Office Pro, the seventh film in the Despicable Me franchise is projected to make a mint.
The box office prognosticator is projecting a $95 million to $115 million opening over its extended opening weekend, with $75 million to $85 million of that coming in the Friday to Sunday frame. Even on the lower end of those projections, the numbers are sure to make for a bumpier flight for Supergirl in its second weekend.
Rated PG-13, Supergirl begins playing in Thursday previews before opening nationwide on Friday.
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