In blow to DC Studios, 'Supergirl' is no match for 'Toy Story 5' at box office

In blow to DC Studios, 'Supergirl' is no match for 'Toy Story 5' at box office

In a significant setback for Warner Bros.' revamped DC movie operations, "Supergirl" has failed to impress at the box office, opening a distant second to the Pixar blockbuster "Toy Story 5". According to studio estimates, "Toy Story 5" remained No. 1 at the box office with $70 million in domestic ticket sales and another $89.1 million overseas, bringing its global total to $585 million in just two weeks. In contrast, "Supergirl" opened with a disappointing $38 million in U.S. And Canadian theaters, adding $30 million in overseas markets. The poor opening weekend for "Supergirl" puts it behind the disappointing debuts of DC busts like "The Flash" ($55 million in 2023) and "The Green Lantern" ($53 million in 2011), and only barely ahead of "Joker: Folie à Deux" ($37.7 million in 2024). The stumble for "Supergirl", which cost $170 million to make, comes as Warner Bros. Discovery, the film studio's parent company, is preparing to be acquired by Paramount Skydance. David Ellison, Paramount chief executive, recently met with James Gunn and Peter Safran, who were tapped to lead DC Studios in late 2022. Their first release, 2025's "Superman", grossed $618 million worldwide, a strong-enough start for Gunn and Safran. But "Supergirl" has flopped with both critics and moviegoers, reportedly trimmed significantly after test screenings. The film landed poor reviews (56% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes) and a "B-" CinemaScore from audiences. David A. Gross, who runs the movie consulting firm FranchiseRe, noted that superhero movies no longer drive the box office like they did pre-pandemic, with fewer yearly releases and a decline of approximately $3.5 billion annually from its highs in 2017-2019. After huge successes like "Wonder Woman" ($822 million in 2017) and "Captain Marvel" ($1.13 billion in 2019), female-fronted superhero movies have also taken a downturn. According to Gross, "You'll hear general explanations like 'the audience lost interest.' Yes, they did. But no one has been able to explain why it happened so suddenly and so completely. Why female superheroes in particular, after their sensational starts? We don't understand it either." The next DC release is "Clayface", a body horror take on the DC character, to be released in October. Gunn's "Superman" follow-up, "Man of Tomorrow", is currently in production and dated for July 2027. Gunn, who serves as a producer on "Supergirl", handed directing duties to Craig Gillespie, the filmmaker of "I, Tonya" and "Cruella". Milly Alcock, who briefly appeared in "Superman", stars as Supergirl, or Lara Zor-El, a younger cousin to Superman who's more of a party girl than a world saver. Paramount Pictures' "Jackass: Best and Last" was the weekend's other new wide release, opening with a modest $8.4 million from 2,855 North American theaters. While that's a good result for a movie that cost just $10 million to make, the 2022 installment, "Jackass Forever", debuted with $23 million before ultimately grossing $80 million worldwide. Olivia Wilde's dinner party comedy "The Invite" notched one of the best per-screen averages of the year, opening on seven screens in New York and Los Angeles with $379,104, good for a per-screen average of $54,158. Wilde's third film as director stars herself, Seth Rogen, Penélope Cruz, and Edward Norton as a pair of San Francisco couples who meet for an impromptu night together. A24 acquired the film after its buzzy Sundance Film Festival premiere and is hoping "The Invite", which will expand next week and go nationwide on July 10, can revive the largely dormant summer comedy. The micro-budget horror phenomenon "Obsession" continued to hold unusually strong, taking third place on the weekend with $9.8 million in its seventh weekend of release. Curry Barker's film, made for less than $1 million, has now collected $233.9 million domestically for Focus Features, plus $108.9 million internationally. Such legs, however, haven't materialized for Steven Spielberg's sci-fi thriller "Disclosure Day", which slipped to fifth place with $8.1 million in domestic theaters. Spielberg's UFO tale has grossed $193.7 million globally in three weeks. The annual and summer box office is still intact, with the motion picture industry +15% over 2025, and only -9% off the same frame in 2019. The summer has officially crossed $2.1 billion, +17% over last summer at this point in time, and near even with 2019's hot wave.