Supergirl Opens to $38 Million, a Third of Superman's Debut
Supergirl can lift a truck. Lifting a summer weekend turned out to be harder. DC Studios' second film, directed by Craig Gillespie and written by Ana Nogueira, opened in North America on June 26 and took an estimated 38 million dollars across its first three days. It finished second, behind Toy Story 5, after 7.8 million in Thursday previews and an 18 million dollar Friday across 3,602 theaters. For a film built on a reported 170 to 186 million dollar budget, that is not a disaster. It is also not flight.
The number that frames it is last year's. Superman, James Gunn's own launch for this rebooted continuity, opened to roughly 122 million dollars in July 2025 and finished with 618 million worldwide against a 225 million dollar budget. Supergirl's debut is about a third of that. The reviews tracked lower too: 56 percent on Rotten Tomatoes against Superman's 83, a 49 on Metacritic, and a B minus CinemaScore where Superman earned an A minus. The audience score sits warmer at 77 percent, which is the figure DC will want to believe in. The split between a cool 56 and a warm 77 is the whole story of the weekend: critics shrugged, the people who showed up mostly did not.
Milly Alcock, who broke out as the young Rhaenyra on House of the Dragon, is not the problem here, and most reviews say so. The film, adapted from Tom King and Bilquis Evely's comic Woman of Tomorrow, leans into a harder, lonelier Kara than the bright network version Melissa Benoist played for six seasons. That is a real creative choice, and it may be why the gap between critics and the crowd is so wide. A softer, sadder Supergirl is a tougher sell to a Saturday matinee than to a critic looking for ambition. DC bet on tone over reassurance and got a mixed verdict for it.
What matters now is the rest of the slate, because Gunn and Peter Safran have committed to a connected map and the early traffic is light. Clayface, a horror film written by Mike Flanagan, arrives October 23. The Lanterns series has already aired on HBO. Man of Tomorrow, the Superman sequel, is dated for July 2027. Supergirl was supposed to widen the door that Superman opened. Instead it is a reminder that a shared universe only works if each film can stand on its own legs, and this one opened needing a hand. The audience that loved Superman did not all come back. DC has two years and several films to find out why.
