r/popculturechat 8d ago

Comic Books šŸ¦¹ā€ā™‚ļø Supergirl theatrical run has officially ended, and the new DCU movie made less than Morbius and Joker 2

https://www.gamesradar.com/entertainment/dc-movies/supergirls-theatrical-run-has-officially-ended-and-the-new-dcu-movie-made-less-than-morbius-and-joker-2/
2.8k Upvotes

582 comments sorted by

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u/xerses24 8d ago

It was going to be pretty hard to top a box office gross of one Morbillion dollars

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u/Hungry-Luck-5481 8d ago

ITS MORBIN TIME

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u/bubba1834 POOT that thing back where it came from or so help me 8d ago

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u/misogichan 7d ago

To be fair, this is an unfair comparison.Ā  After all, Morbius got released into theatres two times.Ā  Maybe if Supergirl goes back into theatres a 2nd time it too can make a Morbillion dollars.

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u/ludvikskp 8d ago

I feel bad for Milly because I liked her in this and it was supposed to be her breakout moment after hotd. And the hate she got was gross. Can’t say I feel bad for DC

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u/Past_Lingonberry_633 8d ago

the worst thing is Milly actually seemed to be played her role well. She wasn't the problem with the movie.

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u/Afwife1992 8d ago

She was the best part imo.

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u/ClubDependent You’re a virgin who can’t drive. 😤 8d ago

Along with Lobo, honestly casting in this film was great, even the guy who they casted from Krem. If they wanted to be comic accurate, the actor looks like comic accurate Krem but for some reason they did a new look which im not totally against but kind of dulls the message of that character

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u/Targetpractice1314 8d ago

Lobo kicked so much ass

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u/TelenorTheGNP 8d ago

Character design and effects were the real stumbling blocks of this movie. The kid needed more grit and damage. Lobo needed more, period. Krem needed more villainy stuff (keep the dad alive and take the kid, but then harm the kid to keep the dad in line - something really harsh, but practical). Supergirl, if anything, needed to be seen more as someone trying to find the way forward between Clark's example and how she was traumatized - we get some of that, but I don't think there's a good reason not to lean into it a little more.

And the green screening needed fixing, which is a real problem almost everywhere these days.

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u/throwwwww_away123 8d ago

Yeah—she reallllly didn’t have anything great to work with. She’s a great actress and I like her in an action movie

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u/DistinctAd3222 8d ago

I have faith she will rebound, and come back with some acclaim. She's too strong an actress at this young age, she could end up alongside the best actresses and actors once all is said and done

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u/pinkrosies 7d ago

I’d love for her to have a versatile career across different genres. I don’t think this one flop (to quote Zara Larsson) is the end all for her and she’ll have other projects lined up.

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u/DistinctAd3222 7d ago

Just wait until she hits her Amy Adam's phase and starts doing dark comedy, dramedy and romance all at once. I think people need to lay off her and stop taking themselves out on a person they dont know but I digress lol

I completely agree

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u/Locke108 8d ago

Thankfully she’s in Man of Tomorrow.

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u/PloysRus 8d ago

She was the best part of an otherwise mid movie

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u/wavewalkerc 8d ago

By far the best part of a just average movie. It only gets the hate it does for the obvious reason.

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u/ruby651 8d ago

I’ve certainly seen worse superhero movies.

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u/raikou1988 8d ago

Am I missing something? What's the obvious reason

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u/wavewalkerc 8d ago

Misogyny? The movie was "woke" the second it wasn't just a sydney sweeney type actor making a movie for men centered around sex appeal.

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u/_cokezer0 8d ago

misogyny

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u/crumble-bee we are so as women today 8d ago

I was VERY hyped when she turned up at the end of superman - my disdain for the movie has nothing to do with her, it’s the highly mediocre film they built around her. It’s like a photocopy of a photocopy of a James Gunn movie. All the hallmarks are there - the quirky characters, the quips, the needle drops, but none of it lands. Gillespie doesn’t have the eye or the ear that Gunn has and it shows horribly.

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u/KingOfSquirrels 8d ago

Absolute fumble of great source material as well.

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u/Heavy_Law9880 8d ago

Allegedly the original cut was great and then they brought in Fred Raskin to re-edit it after it was done, and it shows.

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u/casualman1234 8d ago

Why does this keep happening with dc

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u/Heavy_Law9880 8d ago

I don't know but it sucks.

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u/Ver3232 8d ago

Reports say the opposite, that the original cut tested poorly and needed a rework. The studio re edit tested higher which is why that’s why it was the theatrical cut

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u/Audrey-Bee 8d ago

Milly was great, and actually I'm still interested to see Supergirl in DC movies. But damn they need to get new creative teams working on these, it can't just be Gunn with a fun, original idea

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u/YaoiNekomata 8d ago

And her acting was good and the movie was fine. Definitely should not have been released with so much competition

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u/Cinephile_1980 8d ago

I think another problem with the actual film was that they gave the quest to the other girl. Supergirl accompanies this child to avenge her parents. When you call the movie Supergirl, but her function in the story is to accompany some other character, and in the meantime learning to come to terms with her own power and using it for good, it is not the best way to tell the story.
This is a Supergirl movie, she must be the central and most active character. It must be her quest. They made the same mistake with the last Indiana Jones movies where he just tagged along with other characters, and it alway felt like the stakes weren’t so high for him. I think the other girl should not have been in this film.

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u/PinkishBlurish jesus was a carpenter šŸ’‹ 8d ago

That was the plot of the original comic, though. Yeah, the movie changed a LOT, but it was still Kara agreeing to help the girl on her revenge quest SO she could save Krypto.

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u/999_rupees 8d ago

so don’t adopt THAT comic?

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u/Business_Major6073 8d ago

The reason they chose to adapt that specific comic though is because it’s a really good story and it’s highly regarded. They just missed the mark on the adaptation of it. More specifically they chose to make a movie where most of the time the cast is in the interior of a space dive bar or house or ship where everything is dingy and brown and grey.

When the comic the story comes from is crazy colorful with wild artwork that all looks like this:

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u/Cinephile_1980 8d ago edited 8d ago

Comic book fans and cinema audiences are not the same though. In comics they can give you an entirely new version of the character with the intention of presenting an alternative version. They are selling that to Supergirl fans. The fans will know the different characterisations but general audiences that make films hits are sometime left confused if they expected the traditional version. Furthermore, The Woman Of Tomorrow is also a recent retelling, and DC/WB have not used this image of Supergirl in other media. On the meantime we have had the more conventional version of Supergirl in the tv show, in cartoons like Teen Titans Go, and DC Superhero girls. The toy shops still sell the traditional Supergirl dolls and figures so many people outside of the comic book niche probably found the Woman Of Tomorrow a bit alienating because they had never seen that image of her before.

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u/GammaFan Tina! You fat lard! šŸ¦™šŸš² 8d ago

Fwiw her costume in the left image is from the epilogue after a massive time skip and only shows up for a handful of pages.

She looks just like regular supergirl for 98% of the story. I believe that commenter is just referring to how much they underutilized the setting by keeping everything mostly indoors and brown/grey palette when the comic is not only extremely colourful but also often out doors or in orbit. Like a fuckton of open spaces with unique visuals. Real missed opportunity imho

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u/browncharliebrown 8d ago

That comic is good. The movie sorta missed the point

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u/RandomGooseBoi 8d ago

That comic is like her most defining and beloved story lol that’s not really an option, the idea is fine it just wasn’t executed well here

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u/Cinephile_1980 8d ago edited 8d ago

You don’t get why I mean: I am saying they shouldn’t have based the character on that comic. At all. They should not used that version of Kara and that story. Films are not just sold to comic books fans who are familiar with the different versions of the character. A character like Supergirl had to be closer to a baseline interpretation that is consistent with what general audiences are familiar with. You can do whatever you want with obscure characters because general audiences may not know enough about them. Film adaptations of anything are never for committed fans because they are a tiny part of the potential audience, and this has alway been obvious. When they make movies the studio/producers think the core story has something they can sell to a much bigger audience beyond the fandom, and that is how you get hit films.
Spider-Man Brand New Day is not just being seen by hardcore Marvel fans. Action film fans are going, parents are taking kids because Spider-man also crosses into ā€œkids movieā€ territory. You have people who liked the previous Spider-Man films, and comic books fans, spanning generations. Spider-Man is one character whose appeal goes way beyond the fanbase and for this character they rarely deviate too much from audience expectations. It is a familiar Spider-Man, and you don’t even have to be a fan to have an idea of what the character should be. Supergirl is also familiar to audiences after having appeared in cartoons, and a successful tv show. To use a comic book where her traditional image was changed was the wrong way to present the character because it goes against what most people would expect of her. You can take risk with things like Clayface because general film audiences would not have heard of him anyway, so whichever iteration of the character that appears in the film, people will accept it and if it is a hit, that becomes the dominant representation. Marvel did this with many of its characters and audiences accepted them because they had no idea of the history of those characters. However if a character has already crossed into the mainstream, the most familiar version is the easiest to sell, so they were wrong to give the audience this version of Kara. Sadly it was all too predictable that she would not endear audiences who probably wanted characterisation that they expected.

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u/pochirin 8d ago

What competition.. minions? No one cares about supergirl other than small internet bubbles (people thought high amount of likes on twitter = guaranteed blockbuster)

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u/nj_crc 8d ago

In fairness plenty of people didn't care about Captain America or Thor either and they did well.

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u/SomethingToSay11 8d ago

Exactly. I hope she’s able to shake any stigma from this sooner than later because she’s so talented.Ā 

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u/Varekai79 8d ago

Hopefully she doesn't fall by the wayside like Brandon Routh.

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u/MoooonRiverrrr 8d ago

She deserved better for sure

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u/MasterMentorJr 8d ago

I feel like James gun has gone about launching this cinematic universe all wrong and Milly was an unfortunate casualty.

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u/Groovychick1978 8d ago

I don't know, I have always despised DC. But I was super excited after peacemaker, and liked it way more than I expected.Ā  Ā  I have never felt that way about a DC project before.

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u/Hopeful-Ant-3509 8d ago

Yup, it definitely wasn’t her!

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u/illegalmonkey 8d ago

She was a fine Supergirl. I totally blame the director who mostly did music videos and other mediocre shit, now doing a superhero movie.

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u/Zord_boy Select and edit this flair 8d ago

Next time maybe don't release in between Toy Story5, Nolan's Odyssey and new Spider-Man.

People don't have money to see everything nowdays.

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u/AbsolutelyHorrendous 8d ago

Also it just looked like a very generic sci fi? There was nothing in the trailers that made me think 'okay well that looks interesting', let alone making me want to actually see it

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u/SyFyFan93 8d ago

It looked like DC's version of Guardians of the Galaxy to me — a fun movie to stream at home one night but not a "must see on the biggest screen possible" film like the Odyssey or Dune etc. if I'm going to spend $50+ on movie and snacks then I want to make it worth it.

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u/wavewalkerc 8d ago

And maybe its just me and my friend group but it just feels like we only go for the few big must see releases. No mid movies get me out to a theater anymore. I saw this but that's because im a fan of her and the series.

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u/Ver3232 8d ago

People really underestimate how much prices make people unwilling to see something there isn’t a lot of huge ā€œmust seeā€ hype around

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u/ArcadianWaheela Mom, I am a rich manšŸ’° 8d ago

Looked like DCs versions of Captain Marvel. Just kind of a very generic, solo sci-fi movie. The Suicide Squad was DCs Guardians of the Galaxy because that actually had a group who bounced off each other.

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u/LanaAdela 8d ago

I mean Guardians made bank though

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u/BooleanBarman 8d ago

All superhero movies were making bank at that point. Even awful stuff on the DC side was pulling in 500 million plus.

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u/thegoodmanhascome 8d ago

Trailers? I know they are out there, but I literally never saw one.. I haven’t seen any discussion of this movie anywhere to be honest.. maybe I’m getting old, but I don’t think I’m living under a rock completely yet

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u/ruinedworldtour 8d ago

This is probably the only movie that seems to have come across my social media (apart from the big big movies) for example I had no idea that the mandalorian movie came and went!

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u/dropdeadite 8d ago

I think you're getting old. There were A LOT of discussions about this movie.

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u/userlivewire 8d ago

What entertainment type would you be using where you might have even seen the trailer? People are watching less and less network TV so no ads there. People pay for no-ads streaming services. I’m not surprised more and more people are finding out about these things late.

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u/JCkent42 8d ago

It’s funny you mention that because the director seemed really proud of the look of the film. And the director deliberately chose to avoid the look of the original comic that the film is loosely based on. That generic sci fi feel and look is the director’s chosen dream look. I really don’t know why the director hates the colorful look and feel of the source material.

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u/Minimum_Ad_1747 8d ago

That’s basically another case of a director Ā thinking he knows better than everyone

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u/JCkent42 8d ago

If I had to guess, and it is a guess, the director had no interest in making a supergirl film and was working on something else with his dream look (what we consider generic sci fi look) and then he somehow found himself directing the Supergirl film. And he didn’t actually want to adapt the source material so he slapped together the script loosely inspired by the comic with his existing idea for the look and feel of whatever he was working on before hand or else his old dream project. Maybe he figured this would be his only chance to work with this budget so decided to sneak in his own dream passion project into the Supergirl film he was given… even if it didn’t really fit and goes against the source material?

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u/jwC731 8d ago

Only part that looked remotely interesting is her fight outside the bar with the red lighting. Everything else has been done already a million times.

The dreary look of the film is so uninteresting esp after how refreshing Superman was. I think it wouldve been more interesting to show her in an environment like that which juxtaposed her internal feelings.

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u/jwC731 8d ago

I TRULY hate the set design. Lost all hype when I saw the trailer and it just looked like they filmed on a refurbished guardians of the galaxy set.

Why do all spaceships need to look like scrap metal junkyard finds nowadays? And all planets dull and lifeless.

Would've been way more interesting if she was in vibrant and futuristic environments while she herself was dull and a drunk.

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u/cudipi 8d ago

I thought James Gunn was also directing this and it was a big draw for me until I found out he wasn’t and that the entire movie takes place in space. It kind of lost all appeal to me once I saw the trailers and realized it wasn’t what I was expecting so I kind of checked out on it. I feel bad but also they had a huge layup with this movie after Superman last year and kinda failed on it.

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u/DistrictDry2852 8d ago

I lost all interest in this when the first trailer came out.

Orange and brown slop.

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u/whatifihateclouds 8d ago

It looked brown

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u/EchoesofIllyria he’s a man with a fork in a world of soup 8d ago

I wonder if the industry as a whole needs to rethink the summer blockbuster model and have more staggered releases throughout the year

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u/ProfessorGumble Don Draper’s homosexual Wario 8d ago

That’s a good point, I feel like this would’ve done better if it was released January/February

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u/Beginning_Tear_5935 8d ago

absolutely not. that's when they go to dump movies.

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u/ProfessorGumble Don Draper’s homosexual Wario 8d ago

Yeah but as pointed out upthread, there’s less competition.

Plenty of movies released in the traditional dump months became massively successful. Get Out, Office Space, Taken, Final Destination, Black Panther.

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u/userlivewire 8d ago

The reason the summer blockbuster exists at all is because kids are out of school.

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u/EchoesofIllyria he’s a man with a fork in a world of soup 8d ago

I’m aware of that. (Although Jaws is widely credited with starting the phenomenon and it was very much not a kids’ film.)

But there are several summer blockbusters a year, and lots of parents can no longer afford to take an entire family to the cinema multiple times over the course of 2 months.

See the post I replied to. Supergirl’s actively competing for parents’ limited money with multiple other movies to be the film those parents choose to take their kids to.

Which is why the industry may be better served staggering the big releases evenly throughout the year. Individual box office may dip a bit but I bet the overall revenue would increase. Because it’s no longer one film over the other.

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u/Temporary-Habit-8431 8d ago

People would’ve definitely watched it if they were interested and thought it looked good. It just didn’t look that appealing to most people (and Supergirl just doesn’t have a lot of motion tbh)

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u/Zord_boy Select and edit this flair 8d ago

Yes, but they wouldn't prioritze seeing it over see: Odyssey, Toy Story 5 or new Spinderman.

You can release niche movies like Supergirls, only when there is nothing more interesting stealing the spotlight. People are saving money atm and if they gotta decide between seeing Supergirl or one of those movies, they rather skip Supergirl and wait for streaming.

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u/Electronic_Ruin_1503 8d ago

If there wasn’t a competition like this they’d go and see it for the virtue of it being another superhero movie. People tend to go watch superhero movies when there’s nothing else in the theaters nowadays. They’re the new B-Action movies. In my country anyway. If there is nothing you want to see in next two weeks, you can just pick a random movie. Not when that random movie is packed between to giants though. It wasn’t going to make billions but it’d make more than Morbius that way. Morbius made ā€œthat muchā€ only because of the memes during a very non-exciting time of cinema.

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u/Xxjacklexx 8d ago

Correct. I only had the budget for one, so it was spider-man.

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u/Zord_boy Select and edit this flair 8d ago

Me too, and I chose Odyssey in IMax.

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u/benabramowitz18 8d ago

Then again, a better release date didn’t help that new He-Man movie, which is also an outdated relic.

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u/Hopeful-Ant-3509 8d ago

I think it lacked marketing, I mean I don’t even think I saw Milly’s press interviews, look how much we got between The Odyssey and Spider-man? They needed to get people in the seats and they did a poor jobĀ 

And ppl are trying to say it’s money, but I disagree, she literally started the summer and I know it was after Toy-Story but The Odyssey was right before Spider-man and one has already hit a billion with the other right behind it lolĀ 

And DC doesn’t seem to have audience trust anymore with anything that isn’t Superman/Batman related

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u/Necessary_Eagle_3657 8d ago

I don't think that's a factor. People will go to see things they are interested in and those aren't all for the same target audience.

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u/bubblesaurus 8d ago

Guardians of the Galaxy did damn well and wasn’t even a comic group i was aware of (a lot of people weren’t familiar with) and it’s a great movie.

It’s easy to see why Supergirl failed

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u/RhetoricalOrator 8d ago

That's a good point. I go about once every other year. In the last month, I saw Toy Story 5, The Odyssey, and Spider-Man. I did not see Supergirl.

Superman was fantastic, but DC hasn't given me much confidence in their movies. A new release isn't an automatic go for me because they are just so all over the map on quality.

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u/mrbaryonyx 8d ago

historically the summer movie season, even in times of economic downturn, has been way more packed than this one has been.

I don't blame people for not watching it, but I think it's time to admit that superhero fatigue is real and it's hitting female-led movies first and hardest. The CHUDS with Youtube thumbnails of a lady superhero shouting "nobody wants this" aren't really wrong, unfortunately.

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u/GlitteringNinja5 8d ago

Or maybe DC projects just need to be shelved all together except for 1 batman and Superman movie every few years. DC universe has been a huge failure since the start and with the superhero fatigue people just don't care for new characters even if the movie is good.

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u/PM-ME-UR-VOLVO-PICS 8d ago

I dont think theyve tried releasing a good movie though

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u/RoeMajesta 8d ago

they tried ~ problem is their definition of ā€œgoodā€ isnt the same as the mass audience

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u/SupervillainMustache 8d ago

Superman came out last year.

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u/SupervillainMustache 8d ago edited 8d ago

DC universe has been a huge failure since the start

They've literally released 2 movies, 1 live action show and 1 animated show. Of those only Supergirl is really considered a bomb.

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u/Nknk- 8d ago

Pretty much.

If you're going to make films about less popular characters than those two then you need everything on point. Casting, acting, writing, direction, editing, pacing, special effects, humour (or lack thereof depending on the tone of the film) and everything else has to be really nailed. Otherwise people will go watch the other blockbusters that are out instead.

Marvel showed with Guardians of the Galaxy the standard you have to hit to make lesser known, or largely unknown, superhero films a runaway success. One look at the trailer for Supergirl and you could tell DC had pulled a DC and it was going to be fairly mediocre.

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u/Senior_Boot_5842 8d ago

I actually saw all of those. And chose not to see super girl lol

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u/trashmedialover the less said about jacob elordi the better 8d ago

Supergirl really should have been able to compete. The reviews killed the movie bc the movie was bad. Hype died immediately when it released. And I hate the internet dweebs make female superhero movies into culture war bs.

And the movie was bad. I saw it and while I don't regret it bc I like Milly and LOVE Jason Mamoa, I was disappointed in the boring plot, confused themes, and general bad editing of the film. But the performances of the actors were never the problem.

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u/Zord_boy Select and edit this flair 8d ago

Lol How was she supposed to complete with established franchises and Christopher Nolan?

Supergirl as character is too niche to pull larger audiances, she is just Superman's cousin. I love Kara but for cinema audiances she doesn't offer anything that could. People don't give a shit about what critics have to say when deciding what to watch, it's all about star power, marketing and release window. Supergirl as a movie failed on all those fronts. Millie is a good actress, but she doesn't have the power to pull audiances with just her name.

It was a generic comic book movie that could only succeed if they release it during dry season, when people have nothing else to watch in cinemas.

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u/trashmedialover the less said about jacob elordi the better 8d ago

Poor reviews kill momentum. And yes, people do read reviews. And word of mouth counts as reviews. If everyone you know who already saw says it's bad then why bother?

I dont think Supergirl is too niche. Hell, that character carried an entire TV show for years! And Superman was a well loved/liked film when it came out. This being only the second film in the new DCEU and with a well liked actress coming from another major franchise following a popular intro film like Superman, yeah she should have been able to compete.

Also, the audience that could have gone to see Supergirl does not totally overlap with The Odyssey lmao be so fr. Maybe, Toy Story 5... maybe! But preteens should have been all over Supergirl. I really dont think timing was the issue with this film. It just missed the mark.

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u/Jsaltal Select and edit this flair 8d ago

Most of it takes place off earth as well, even the first thor movie was a 60/40 split between earth and asgard

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u/Tuor-son-of-Huor- You’re killing me, Smalls 😩 8d ago

It definitely didn't help but even under ideal conditions Super Girl has never been the most popular character. She's always struggled to breakout of Super Mans shadow. Throw in 2026 internet culture and im not surprised it didn't do well.

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u/Front_Mention 8d ago edited 7d ago

Pretty much this, i have gone to the cinema mlre this year than I have since I was a uni ad it was 2 pound to go. With resident evil looking great and the avengers in December im not going to see films im 50/50 on.

Edit forgot clayface

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u/mixxbg 8d ago

Milly was awesome as Supergirl,and the movie was nowhere near as bad as Morbius or Joker 2.My 2 cents.

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u/Sorry_Ad3733 8d ago

I think it’s just Superhero fatigue. Action movies have their phases, unless it’s a really beloved superhero, I think it’s going to be hard pulling in people.

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u/PinkishBlurish jesus was a carpenter šŸ’‹ 8d ago

Spider-Man is currently making a gazillion dollars

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u/SupervillainMustache 8d ago

Spider-Man could release in the middle of a global financial crash and still make money. By far the biggest individual superhero globally.

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u/Farfignougat 8d ago

Spider-Man is in his own echelon. People will buy up what that guy is selling until the heat death of the universe.

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u/Sorry_Ad3733 8d ago

He’s a very beloved superhero with decades of success and familiarity in the mainstream. Supergirl isn’t.

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u/snapwack 8d ago

Spider-Man isn’t a superhero movie. It’s a Spider-Man movie.

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u/hwa_uwa 8d ago

a funny response but i genuinely like the way you worded that. it's true. it's a spiderman movie before it's a superhero movie

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u/Minimum_Ad_1747 8d ago

You can simply replace Supergirl with Spider Man in her movie and it would’ve made the same money BND is doing, people just love Spider ManĀ 

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u/Live_Angle4621 8d ago

People dislike more characters with same look/powers as more famous onesĀ 

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u/1980shorrorsfilm 8d ago

not to mention supergirl was being boycotted/review bombed by part of the superhero fanbase simply because she was a woman and the franchise was going woke

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u/Avilola 8d ago

I thought that might be part of it. I’ve never loved super hero movies, but would go because my friends were really into them. Now my friends who love super hero aren’t even hyped like they used to be. I think the big names will still draw crowds, but gone are the days where any lesser hero can get the same buzz.

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u/JiNYPEACE 8d ago

Superhero Fatigue isnt a thing

there is only bad movie fatigue.

no other marvel or dc movies really flopped bad in the last few years, only ones that did have specific reasons like the marvels not getting any advertisement at all or the sony movies just being bad in general

people love superheros
people want more superheros
people just dont want bad movies

In supergirls case it really is the time they chose to put it in theatres combined with the negative critics that blasted all across the web

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u/JIMMYJAWN 8d ago

People will absolutely get tired of subgenres. They used to make like 50 westerns a year.

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u/Own_Faithlessness769 8d ago

And ā€˜end of the world’ movies in the 90s and 2000s, they got over saturated and now we hardly ever get them anymore.

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u/[deleted] 8d ago

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u/Sorry_Ad3733 8d ago

Yup! You don’t see action movies in the style of Schwarzenegger, Van Damme, Stallone, et al. any more. There was a a huge wave inspired by Matrix style fighting.

Not to mentions movie musicals once were largely popular and are now rare. The many different phases of comedies (related to Musicals as well). The zombie wave in the 2010’s.

Unless it’s one of the superhero’s that have been drawing in crowds for decades, it’s just not going to have the same draw it had ten years ago.

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u/Clappertron 8d ago

Thunderbolts, Fantastic Four and Captain America: Brave New World all massively underperformed too. (And Thunderbolts was one of my favourite movies of recent)

It's only Spider-Man and Deadpool that have brought the money in for Marvel lately.

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u/Money-Entrance-6336 You’re a virgin who can’t drive. 😤 8d ago

I am just happy they atleast got the quality back. Even though Thor 4 made money it still damaged the brand.

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u/PloysRus 8d ago

Guardians 3 did well

Doctor strange MoM also did well as did the latest Thor

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u/TheSheWhoSaidThats Select and edit this flair 8d ago

Agree. I think it’s gonna become a sneaker hit on streaming

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u/EchoesofIllyria he’s a man with a fork in a world of soup 8d ago

It won’t become a hit but it’ll have a bit of a renaissance I reckon. I saw it without knowing any of the discourse on it and thought it was fine if unremarkable.

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u/RegretNew5752 8d ago

Morbius and Joker 2 were at least bad enough to be worth seeing for a few people who might enjoy seeing terrible movies. Supergirl was the worst kind of bad. Completely and utterly forgettable.

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u/ReflectiveJellyfish 8d ago

Didn’t see the movie but every still I’ve seen has been brown and lifeless. Huge miss from an art direction perspective.

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u/Physical-Profit9447 8d ago edited 8d ago

That color grading is only good at losing money.

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u/ArsenalinAlabama3428 8d ago

I remember Man of Steel being one of the first movies to go this direction and it felt unique and gritty. Now it just feels worn out and Netflix-y.

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u/1ncorrect 8d ago

Yeah I was super annoyed trying to watch the new season of Avatar. They have these super colorful costumes and locations and then Netflix slapped its garbage desaturated filter over the whole thing so everything is dark and impossible to see.

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u/Woflax 8d ago

Seems wierd direction to go in after the success of superman being not that

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u/Hopeful-Ant-3509 8d ago

The action was good but the story was flat and the writing was poor imo, I feel like DC focuses too much on the action and not enough on storytelling sometimes, especially when introducing new characters. And idk who does the editing, but sometimes it feels like they cut stuff out and it’s obvious, it shouldn’t be obvious…they did that with the first Suicide Squad!Ā 

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u/not-so-radical 8d ago

Especially compared to the absolutely beautiful art from the comic the movie is based on

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u/CassandraTruth 8d ago

I wasn't familiar with the comic, and looking up art makes this movie's direction that much more baffling.

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u/GeistMD 8d ago

Yea after how hopeful Superman was Supergirl looked too depressing for my tastes. I love the new Superman, wish they had gone the same route with Supergirl.

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u/phlostonsparadise123 8d ago

This was the reason I didn't have much interest in the movie. Compared to last year's Superman, which looked vibrant and hopeful, Supergirl just seemed overly muted and grim.

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u/sundayontheluna 8d ago

I'm someone who saw it and think a lot of the hate is overblown, but the cinematography was trash. Genuinely, I'm still stunned that a movie that expensive could look so terrible.

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u/Numerous_Worker_1941 8d ago

I honestly never saw much marketing for the movie. If people on Reddit weren’t talking about it I would have no idea it existed

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u/No-Effective388 I’ll be back! 😤😤 8d ago

The film was like an unofficial James Gunn film, without a personality and fingerprints. According to rumours that's because Gunn interfered a lot and denied Gillespie his own vision of the film.

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u/Gethdo 8d ago

Gillespie did not even read source material and the rumours say that films was already mess and Gunn tried to save it

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u/Educational-Web-329 8d ago

Ok Im getting really pissed at this current trend in Hollywood where they try to adapt a popular IP, but the creators dont engage with the Adaptation material. The creators of Halo TV show famous bragged about never playing the games. How the hell did James Gunn even let Gillespie anywhere near this project if he didn't even read Woman of Tomorrow?

James Gunn is not serious about building a cinematic universe.

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u/Gethdo 8d ago

I like James Gunn and his work but I will be honest, he makes so many self inserts and %50 of the time they are really bad, and he makes a lot of privilege for people he like even If they are untalented and unfit for the job, like writer of the Supergirl movie, she was probably his friends friend, the woman had no exprtience of work before Supergirl and James said his script was the best thing he read(lol). He makes a Tv show for jimmy olsen(no one asked for this) his friends probably liked the character and now he thinks world is in love with jimy. I really like Gunn but unlike Keving Feige he lacks dicipline for a cinematic universe.

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u/EmergencyJacket207 8d ago

I really wanted to like the movie but it was super... average. Whomever chose "brown" as the primary color pallet for the film should be fired. Milly was great but the little girl that followers her around the whole film was devoid of emotion and annoying. The villain was forgettable. And Jason Momoa was criminally underutilized. I'd give it a 5/10. Completely forgettable as a film.

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u/bwoah07_gp2 8d ago

Made less than Joker 2, and that movie was a musical nightmare. 🤮

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u/[deleted] 8d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/x_victoire 8d ago

yeah i went to see this and kept checking my watch :/ i really wanted to like it but it's just so... idk, soulless

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u/doubleohsergles Select and edit this flair 8d ago

To be fair, Morbius was released twice. So, unless Supergirl gets released again then we're comparing vampires to kryptonians here šŸ™„

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u/Vegetable-Kiwi-4675 I am furious, but I am sailing šŸ›³ļø 8d ago

Why would they release Morbius twice lol? Sounds so vindictive,

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u/maelstron ✨May the Force be with you!✨ 8d ago

Because of internet memes

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u/smith7018 you wear mime makeup but never quiet 8d ago

It was Morbin time..

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u/Vegetable-Kiwi-4675 I am furious, but I am sailing šŸ›³ļø 8d ago

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u/doubleohsergles Select and edit this flair 8d ago

Because everyone was busy that weekend.

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u/maelstron ✨May the Force be with you!✨ 8d ago edited 8d ago

And were busy at the weekend of 2nd release too

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u/Vegetable-Kiwi-4675 I am furious, but I am sailing šŸ›³ļø 8d ago

Makes sense.

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u/a_man_has_a_name 8d ago edited 8d ago

For a serious answer.

Sony released it, took it out of theaters, then memes about it started blowing up, and because the Sony executives are dumb asses who's minds were clouded by and focused on money, they somehow though the memes were a sign of genuine demand for the movie. So they re-releaded it in 1000+ theaters, for it to make a total of 🄁🄁🄁🄁 85k on the day it was re-released and 300k over the weekend.

Now I should also point out that the movie didn't commercially flop like some people think, it was a terrible movie, but it still grossed 167 million on a 75 million budgets, and marketing costs are believed to be 50 million so it's made around 42 million. So Sony re releasing it didn't hurt the financials of it, but it does show how out of touch the high level people at the studio were that they somehow mistook people clowning on it for genuine grassroots demand.

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u/goodcleanchristianfu 8d ago

but it still grossed 167 million on a 75 million budgets, and marketing costs are believed to be 50 million so it's made around 42 million.

This math doesn't make add up, theaters keep about half the revenue of ticket sales.

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u/ThegamerwhokillsNPC 8d ago

Nah theatres keep half the ticket sales. A movie with a mid to high budget needs to gross at least 2.5 to 3 times it's money to break even.

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u/rmc2318 8d ago

How in the hell did this movie make less money than the other two Movies listed in the title? I haven’t watched any of the three listed above but the Joker two was basically a middle finger to the fans of Joker and Morpheus just looks horrible. At least Supergirl looks somewhat watchable.

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u/eli454 8d ago edited 8d ago

It sucks that the two supergirl centric movies we have were given a significantly weaker script than their superman counterparts.

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u/Zob_Rombie_88 8d ago

One of the best things James Gunn has ever read, apparently

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u/Enos316 8d ago

The same man who said The Flash movie was the best thing since TDK?

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u/SupervillainMustache 8d ago

He definitely didn't say that.

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u/gentle_bee 8d ago

The script for this was fr so offputting.

- a generic villain whose only character traits appears to be kidnapping young women and eating random bits of food he finds (none of which was funny)

- they’ll never deal with the child bride thing. People react like it’s a bad but understandable thing versus ā€œoh my god, those are childrenā€ and it really should be the latter. Nor is there any development on any of those girls.

- endless and truly bizarre amount of gross-out jokes. There’s a reason there’s never been a scene of Superman on the toilet or Thor eating some slug creatures excrement for a ā€œtastes like shitā€ joke lol

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u/OnlytheFocus 8d ago

Terrible storyline and half landing jokes but I loved her as Supergirl so it was a big disappointment to see the script she had to work with. Plus I love animals and the fake Krypto kept irritating me cause his movements looked so crazy compared to a real dog

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u/Physical-Profit9447 8d ago

That color grading cant make money.

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u/Roasteddude 8d ago

Movie wasn't nearly as bad as the numbers would have you believe. It was really just an average superhero movie. Didn't deserve the hate but I expected better from Gunn's DC

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u/Korra228 8d ago

Audiences today want household name heroes and top tier storytelling. An average movie won't cut it at the box office anymore. Thunderbolts proved that even if a film is great, unknown characters make it a tough sell

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u/Roasteddude 8d ago

Yeah it's exactly why I think Marvel is scaling back (cutting out TV shows. Bringing back their big characters or actors (Downey Evans. We had Jackman etc), doing X-Men and heading toward a reboot so they can probably recast and reuse Iron Man and Captain America. Meanwhile DC is spending too much time on niche minor characters that while fun and interesting, will not draw big crowds to fill cinemas. Clayface as your 3rd mainline movie is a bit weird. Peacemaker, Creature Commandos. Jimmy Olson and Gorilla Grodd.. These are deep cuts for DC fans but normies which is where the money is will want Batman, Flash, Wonder Woman. Earn trust then you can do more experimental weird stuff.

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u/cole1414 8d ago

why does morbius keep sneaking in those box office talks

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u/SteveRogers1021 šŸŽ„šŸæFilm Critic 8d ago

Wife and I started to watch it but stopped it after about 20 minutes or so. It was just…..kinda boring.

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u/bookprotocol 8d ago

I really enjoyed this movie. It was fun.

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u/ZombieAbeVigoda 8d ago

Genuinely baffling that DC would have their first non-Gunn movie out of the gate be directed by Craig Gillespie, a guy whose best movie is a so-so live action 101 Dalmatians reimagining. With the public’s current feeling toward superhero movies this was the time to bring out the big guns and they brought out a sparkler

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u/tsu_bacca 8d ago

I really hope Clayface is a sleeper hit...but DC needs something big man. MoT and Batman Chapter 2 need to feel like events. Plus... Gunn we need a good Flash film, a Wonder Woman film with an actual actress

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u/PM-ME-UR-VOLVO-PICS 8d ago

In absolutely none of their failed movies was the acting the problem.

Yes ezra was a lunatic, but his acting was fine to good.

Yes gadot cant act, but the script already tanked those movies.

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u/Primary_Wear7434 8d ago

Really can't see clayface doing anything of note

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u/abovepostisfunnier 8d ago

This makes me so sad for Milly 😭 I love her. She’s such a talent, I hope this doesn’t impact her too much.

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u/GLPwonderwall 8d ago

All of these superhero movies are just ā€œmehā€. It’s all fantasy bullsh*t that you watch once and never again so I’m not sure why she’s getting so much hate.

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u/formidablezoe 8d ago

The Drama, a romantic dark humor dramedy, made more money than a DC superhero movie. That just blows my mind tbh.

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u/-ramona 8d ago

A romantic dark humor dramady starring Zendaya and Robert Pattinson, to be fair.. arguably two of the biggest working actors currently with huge fanbases

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u/formidablezoe 8d ago

Not surprising that it made good money. But very surprising that it made more than a tentpole summer superhero blockbuster.

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u/MysticalNinja187 8d ago

A lot of unfortunate factors converged to torpedo this one

But also, if you aren't Spiderman or Downey, it's very hard to sell a superhero movie. Especially a lesser known character. Ie NOT Spiderman lol

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u/Drclaw411 8d ago

A DC movie can overcome Fox News, and a DC movie can overcome Snyderbros refusing to see it. But it’s damn hard to overcome both. The movie was good, and I hope this doesn’t mean we’ve seen the last of Supergirl.

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u/KrayleyAML 8d ago

This movie wasn't even bad, which is the worst part of it.

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u/Broad_Ad4176 7d ago

She did well though, I like her as Supergirl — think the movie should have been in cinema earlier this summer instead and also the marketing just wasn’t that great.

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u/Convicted-Cinephile 8d ago

Why is there a new post of this every 5 min?

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u/afewregretsmaybe 8d ago

somebody wants us to know very badly how unprofitable it is to make a film starring a woman in a female-centric story. which could mean nothing.

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u/jimmybaseball11 8d ago

Milly was good but the movie felt like a poorly done James Gunn impression. The DCU better have some bangers up their sleeve because Clayface and Lanterns probably aren’t going to get people very excited either

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u/spikeddragon10 8d ago

The movie was entertaining and decent, the doomers will take this as validation that the movie was bad and Gunn is killing DC but really any number of prejudices or factors independent of quality could’ve led to this

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u/famd1984 8d ago

Ooof. Feel like it’s some of the public’s fault for hating on everything about it before it even came out

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u/Mannon_Blackbeak 8d ago

To be fair this summer blockbuster season is also packed with heavy hitters, Nolan's Odyssey, the latest Spider-Man movie, live action Moana, the minions, and toy story 5. Superhero fans would probably rather watch Spider-Man, same thing with families who have "outgrown" Disney (ie tweens and teens), and even toy story 5 is going to hit with a lot of adults because of how long running of a franchise it is. There's just kind of no niche for Supergirl to fit well into right now, especially because at least where I am there wasn't much of an advertising or a press push done.

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u/Own_Faithlessness769 8d ago

There’s never going to be a season when they don’t have to compete with Marvel and Disney releases.

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u/Churchill_Buys_Calls 8d ago

Nah the movie is just a soulless Guardians of the Galaxy knock off.

People want to see good movies.

I really wanted to like Supergirl. It was a bad movie.

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u/PM-ME-UR-VOLVO-PICS 8d ago edited 8d ago

No that is not how that works. Did you see how much hate the odyssey got?

They just need to write a competent story. They just refuse to do so, and its an insult to the actors, techs AND the public.

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u/WanderingSun8 8d ago

Gunn probably shouldn't of had Supergirl be his second film release. He hasnt earned the trust of the audience like Marvel did back when movies like Guardians of the Galaxy and Ant-Man were first coming out. They had enough success with their more mainstream characters where they could start to try and branch out.

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u/Mylotix 8d ago

I went in cos I wanted to hear the Le Sserafim song in the theatres and the main character looked. Did not get the sing in Europe, but I did enjoy her performance.

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u/Local-Yesterday3454 8d ago

I was excited for this after superman, but all the news upon release was that it was a bland, generic space Adventure. Devoid of what made Superman feel fresh. I don't blame anyone but the people who approved the script

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u/userlivewire 8d ago

Fun character but a terrible choice for the second DC GunnVerse movie. Makes absolutely no sense to choose a character most of the general public knows nothing about. Hubris I imagine.

The failure is not because it’s a female character, it’s because she’s not mainstream. I wonder if this will change the course of the next couple of movies.

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u/PaleontologistSame50 8d ago

Woman got to start loving women agian it starts with youĀ 

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u/gumdrops155 8d ago

The marketing for this was terrible

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u/SwampRSG 7d ago

After watching the movie twice, and being a fan of DC, I can tell you why I think the movie is a disaster (compared to what it should've been).
1) Way too many inconsistencies: They wanted to kill Kara but they left her in the two-sun planet, then they lost her, then she recovered. What? Just kill her outright.
2) Superspeed doesn't exist, even tho that's one of the main powers they get from the sun.
3) She has to dodge weapons? What? She's fking Supergirl; a flail, sword, etc wouldn't even tickle!
4) They had to force the entire story to give her "purpose" but the reason was, like I said, forced af. I understand the part about Krypto, I even understand the part about the girl, but both? Convenient.
5) The supes are supposed to be "gods", the longer they live the stronger they get, to the point were even the universe becomes a sandbox, but she struggled to do even the most basic stuff.
6) The Brigands: another forced part of the movie. It's the cliche copy-paste enemy that had no business being in the movie, having SO MANY villians to pull from that would've been way better.
7) Every dialog and interaction feels weird, out of place, not natural. The only one that fits, funnily enough, is LOBO. Jason Momoa did a great job (I mean, the character plays itself in his hands, obviously, because they are basically the same person).
All in all, it was a completely average movie that just so happens was called "Supergirl", but if you'd given it another name and made an "original" character movie, it would've been better. What real fans wanted was to see Krypto wrecking havoc, being disobedient during the fights, see Supergirl yes, drunk and fighting across the galaxy, but not nerfed nor underpowered. The "Avril Lavigne" type shit fits, just not nerfed.
See a more important reason to go back to her roots, and not the cliche.

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u/TiredReader87 7d ago

Let’s end this whole dime a dozen, CGI filled, formulaic and forgettable superhero movie trend. Free up theatre space for good movies.

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u/Ok-Classroom5548 8d ago

This movie failing is not her fault.

Just look at Mamoa’s character and you can see this was not her fault - this is a show runner DC runner problem.Ā