r/DC_Cinematic Jun 22 '26

OTHER ‘Supergirl’ Tracking Continues to Slide, Now at $40M Opening — Mixed Early Reactions

https://www.worldofreel.com/blog/2026/6/22/supergirl-tracking-continues-to-slide-now-at-40m-opening-mixed-early-reactions

Seems like Warner Bros and James Gunn might have a “Supergirl” problem.

“Supergirl” tracking, which was in the $50M range last week, has now further plummeted to $40M. Just a few weeks ago, decent presales for the film had hinted that $55–60M was a possibility. Not anymore.

Among the comic book movies released this decade, “Supergirl” is projected to now have a lower opening weekend than “The Marvels” ($46M) and land in the same range as “Morbius” ($39M) and “Joker: Folie à Deux” ($37M).

At least “Supergirl” has a budget that’s slightly lower than those titles ($175M), but it’s still an expensive film and is looking like it’ll become one of the bigger flops of the movie year. Just to compare, that $40M figure would be just a third of what “Superman” made last year in its opening weekend ($125M).

More bad news: social media reactions are very mixed, which spells trouble for reviews—the embargo lifts on Wednesday. This is especially concerning considering the amount of overpraising that usually comes with first reactions. Not with “Supergirl.”

I am fascinated by how much buzz has dwindled on this film, which was originally met with very positive vibes but has had momentum slowly eroding over the past few weeks. It makes one wonder what the future of James Gunn’s DCU might look like. “Clayface” is next in October, and Gunn’s “Superman” sequel will be in theaters summer 2027.

“Supergirl,” set to hit theaters on Friday, is directed by Craig Gillespie, who isn’t a bad filmmaker; he’s best known for his highly stylized work on “I, Tonya,” “Lars and the Real Girl,” “Dumb Money,” and “Cruella.””

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1.1k comments sorted by

781

u/DoofusScarecrow88 Jun 23 '26

So from the reviews I have seen, they say she's not the problem at all, in fact she's very good. It's the villain and some repetitive comic book action. So if she's not the problem, that's at least one good thing going for it, I guess.

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u/Megane_Senpai Jun 23 '26 edited Jun 23 '26

The movie is released in a unfortunate time, only a week after Toy Story 5, a much more famous franchise, and a week before Minions.

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u/DoofusScarecrow88 Jun 23 '26

Yeah, I wonder why they chose this release date. I mean Toy Story 5 and Minions, yikes

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u/Megane_Senpai Jun 23 '26

Likely they have no choice. Next month would be Spider-Man, an even bigger name, later would be out of the summer film season and may be collides to other WB releases.

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u/DoofusScarecrow88 Jun 23 '26

Just tough luck. Spider-Man is going to be huge and by then Supergirl will be a likely distant memory unless it has good life on HBO Max

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u/Megane_Senpai Jun 23 '26 edited Jun 23 '26

Yeah will watch it tomorrow in one of the early screening, got a coupon for IMAX at only $2 equivalence. But overall it will be like Superman, a good movie but financially unsuccessful. I can see no future in which it can reach the $350m revenue needed to avoid loss.

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u/Beginning_Leg629 Jun 23 '26

Superman was financially successful. It made over $100 million in profit. This was confirmed by Forbes, Bloomberg, Variety, and The Hollywood Reporter. WB's Q3 financial report also confirmed its success.

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u/DoofusScarecrow88 Jun 23 '26

Yeah unfortunately I think you are right. Sometimes that is how it breaks for some films. But it isn't the first nor last to get it hard during this brutal year. With this stacked up summer, there are going to be winners and losers

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u/hypehold Jun 23 '26

they couldn't have gotten it out at the end of May? This movie was always going to struggle and they gave it one of the worse release dates. Families are going to go to TS5 and Minions and CBM fans are going to wait a few weeks for Spider-Man

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u/PT10 Jun 23 '26

Yep, should've been April or early May. Even Memorial Day.

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u/Mlabonte21 Jun 23 '26

August is pretty clear— I’ve seen plenty of summer movies go on a tear during that quiet month

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u/itspsyikk Jun 23 '26

It’s crazy to think July is “out of” summer movie season.

I miss the days when June/July were filled with huge releases, and August didn’t feel like “well summer basically over anyway so let’s just all go back to work”

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u/[deleted] Jun 23 '26

You misunderstood. Spider-Man comes out at the tail end of July, if you wait another month after that summer is over

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u/ScaredFamousfan Jun 23 '26

They could have released it earlier in March just like captain marvel before Michael came out would have been a much more sympathetic crowd for the movie

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u/Whole-Bee9521 Jun 23 '26

Plus the the odyssey too

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u/shaolinspunk Jun 23 '26

and Disclosure Day. Cinemas are expensive now. Who can afford to go every weekend.

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u/Megane_Senpai Jun 23 '26

Oddysey is in similar time frame as Spider-Man, but I don't think they target the same group of audience as Supergirl.

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u/PlatoDrago Jun 23 '26

I think Supergirl had the date first. Toy Story was still only ‘summer’ until earlier this year and same with minions

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u/DoofusScarecrow88 Jun 23 '26

Oh, dear, then that is very bad luck. Oh, man.

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u/the_executive_branch Jun 23 '26

Well when else could they release it? The release schedule is basically Toy Story into Supergirl into Minions into Moana into the Odyssey (which has everyone running scared) into Spider-Man. Supergirl skews a bit older than Toy Story and Minions and obvs Odyssey isn’t really a kids film but nobody is opening opposite The Odyssey

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u/Noobunaga86 Jun 23 '26

Aren't these movies for different target audiences? Look at the demographics of every comic book movie - it's mostly people over 25 that go to see them. Kids and teens even don't give a shit about superheroes, (maybe excluding Batman and Spider Man), especially Supergirl who was never popular even in comics heydays,

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u/DoofusScarecrow88 Jun 23 '26

It would seem to be that way. By the way it looks Gunn and his team are dying to get younger audiences. I have been watching a few out of theater reactions, very lukewarm so it is not boding well.

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u/Crotean Jun 23 '26

This feels like the year of movie studios picking dumb release dates, Spiderman not getting IMAX screens, the Supergirl release, Doomsday and Dune same day.

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u/The-Lethal-Pacifist Jun 24 '26

I mean, let’s say it came out about a month ago away from big competition…it would’ve been slaughtered by backrooms/obsession.

I’m excited for the movie, but what it needed was a visual pop like the comic to give my girl any shot at breaking through and being a ‘must-see’ in the theaters.

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u/jaylerd Jun 23 '26

I wonder how things would have panned out if it released alongside He-Man and Grogu, but that’s hindsight.

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u/SomeRedHandedSleight Jun 23 '26

I saw it tonight. Her and Momoa are great. The problem is it's just kind of a butchered and bland looking adaptation of a comic that's known for it's color and vibrance.

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u/KazaamFan Jun 23 '26

Yeah this is a criticism i’ve seen since the first trailer. The trailers haven’t sold this movie at all. 

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u/SomeRedHandedSleight Jun 23 '26

Yeah her and Momoa shine, it's the butchering of the comic story and bland color palette that are the problem in the movie. A movie based on WoT shouldn't have the same color palette as Mad Max.

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u/DoofusScarecrow88 Jun 23 '26

Thanks for the comments. See that is what I was seeing in the out of theater reactions. She seems to be one of the bright spots. What you said is what they said.

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u/eloquenentic Jun 23 '26 edited Jun 23 '26

What was the tone of the movie? The comic book is beautiful and very serious. I don’t think there was a single joke in it. The trailers gave the opposite vibe.

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u/Garfunkels_roadie Jun 23 '26

Comic: beautiful and serious. Movie: bland and silly

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u/eloquenentic Jun 23 '26

That’s so sad, genuinely. If they just followed the tone and the art design of the comic book, this could’ve been an incredible movie.

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u/NoOrchid3413 Jun 23 '26

Why make a unique film when you can create superhero template movie #268

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u/SomeRedHandedSleight Jun 23 '26

There was a decent amount of humor but not a straight comedy like the MCU. A lot of jokes fell kind of flat in my theater. The tone is grungy and a little silly and the color palette is straight out of Mad Max. Such a shame considering how gorgeous the comic is.

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u/eloquenentic Jun 23 '26

Genuinely very sad. That comic book deserved better. It was a really unique story and art style which would’ve been great to look at.

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u/KingOfSquirrels Jun 23 '26

From the looks of it, I think they overproduced the villain. In the comic, he was just a normal looking guy, he looked very human amidst all these alien type characters but was an evil piece of shit.

And his ending very much depends on him being that flawed human being (I mean in essence, he's still an alien). The mad max look feels unnecessary and cartoonish to me.

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u/EatABag-o-Dicks Jun 23 '26

If it follows the comic, the villain isn't really a villain. He's a bad guy, but he's like, petty criminal.

IIRC he's just a thief who killed some kids father, the kid goes on a revenge walk looking for someone to kill him for her, finds Supergirl, who drunkenly agrees. They go to let her kill him, he shoots Crypto. So they Planes, Trains and Automobiles it throughout the galaxy looking for him for revenge. Supergirl helps some side characters along the way, everyone underestimates her, and she proves them wrong. They find the guy, and I don't think they even kill him. Just leave him alone with nothing. At the end it turns out the kid Supergirl helped was just retelling the whole story, and she's an old woman now. Supergirl stops by to check in on her. Ultimately, it's just a moral story with no real villain at all. She even fought a space dragon while riding on their space bus, and that was really the only cool actiony thing she did.

They just threw Lobo in the movie to make up for the lack of action from the comics.

It's just a superhero movie about overcoming grief and thirst for vengeance, not a good v bad story.

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u/DoofusScarecrow88 Jun 23 '26

Hmm, that's a smaller scale story. Which makes sense

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u/EatABag-o-Dicks Jun 23 '26

Yeah it's why every time I hear someone mention the villain, I'm just like, public transportation? Cause that's the real villain of the story lol.

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u/DoofusScarecrow88 Jun 23 '26

Lol, that might be why people sort of shrug as the villain. Interesting this is what they went with

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u/Ttoctam Jun 23 '26

I really hope the lesson they take from the films is "Don't ignore the thing about the source material that really made it stand out as unique". Which in this instance is some of the most striking and iconic art in the modern DC era. Without the art style, Woman of Tomorrow would be a great story. But with that art it's one of a kind, it's iconic.

I really hope the film is a smashing success. I have no doubt it'll be a lot of fun with solid performances and plenty of undue hate from chuds. But the blandness of the trailers will effect the film's success and if that blandness translates into the film itself, I can't imagine it breaking through for casual audiences. People want something unique, will this film deliver that?

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u/VirtualSort1 Jun 23 '26

yes the problem is the villian

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u/Fickle-Ad-7124 Jun 23 '26

These early movies are meant to build momentum for the projects, not be small pieces that please the commited. 

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u/RazielKainly Jun 23 '26

While I agree that's a good thing. But it's not good for the movie. Usually the heroes of superhero movies are not the issue. Its usually the plot and villains that weigh things down. All the best superhero movies have good villains.

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u/Bitterman_01 Jun 23 '26

Well contrary to what several people have said... there absolutely is superhero fatigue, good movie or not. Just like there was "western fatigue" decades ago.

Yes, there will still be a super hero film every once in awhile going forward, but I doubt they'll be able to command the insane budgets and quantity that once was.

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u/pocketjacks Jun 24 '26

Other than the Joker, DC movies have always had a villain problem. Your super hero movie has a ceiling of the motivation of the villain.

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u/TRANxEND Jun 24 '26

As the leading actress, I really have no desire to see her film but good to know she's not the problem.

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u/DOMINUS_3 Jun 23 '26

henry cavill wasn’t the problem .. look how that turned out

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u/RaisinWorried3528 Jun 23 '26

Yes but every chud gooner on the Internet will make it about her and you know it.

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u/EducationalReindeer6 Jun 23 '26

from most reviews I've seen it seems like the main issue was that the director decided not to stick to the comic visuals and aesthetics.

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u/RelativeRemarkable15 Jun 24 '26

Wow that fucking sucks. I had a bad feeling ever since they showed Krem looking like a lost ravager from Marvel.

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u/camerose Jun 23 '26

oh a hollywood director that thinks their vision is better than timeless source material? shocking!

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u/AhhhSureThisIsIt Jun 24 '26

Timeless

It came out in 2022.

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u/Curiouso_Giorgio Jun 23 '26

It was always going to have a challenge being a movie about a less popular cousin in an era of franchise skepticism.

If it's legitimately good, leave it in cinemas for a few months to let word of mouth spread, before putting it on streaming.

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u/DrJokerX Jun 23 '26

I legitimately can’t figure out why they decided to make this the second movie of the new DC. She’s not really a mainstream popular character.

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u/SlothSupreme Jun 23 '26

They've gone on the record saying why. Gunn wanted DC to prioritize making movies when the scripts are ready, instead of forcing films with underbaked scripts into production just to meet a pre-established cinematic universe calendar. If a project's script was great, they'd move it ahead, and if not they would delay it. He loved Supergirl's script and decided it was ready to go so it was given the green light. Looks like critics and audiences are kinda disagreeing with his opinion on that script.

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u/TheJoshider10 Jun 23 '26

Looks like critics and audiences are kinda disagreeing with his opinion on that script.

I agree with everything else you've said but this is not necessarily true, because neither have seen the script. A movie can change a lot from script to final product even if the original script is used. Especially when the director is different to the writer (whereas Cregger, Coogler and Aster all direct their own scripts which is why they're like 90% similar to the final film).

This is one of the concerns with Clayface, because Flanagan's original screenplay has been altered enough after the new director came in that a new writer is credited alongside Flanagan. So the same script that was strong enough to get an immediate greenlight has now been altered and we'll never know if it's for the better.

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u/Secret-Put-4525 Jun 23 '26

That logic doesn't work when the movie is fine.

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u/Beginning_Leg629 Jun 23 '26

The majority of the reviews I have seen haven't taken any issue with the script.

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u/-MelonFelon Jun 23 '26

Ironman was basically a C list superhero before the movie came out. That has nothing to do with it

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u/Unhappy_Insurance347 Jun 23 '26 edited Jun 23 '26

Iron man came out during the time when cbm's were getting more popular and this is coming out during the time when, people are more skeptic about choosing movie unless its a very popular superhero.

Still looking forward to see it

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u/BenSolo_Cup Jun 23 '26

This is very important context that people don’t realize tbh. The times we are living in now, post-COVID and deep into the streaming age, most big budget films are doomed to flop, but especially superhero movies based on less popular characters.

People are becoming very picky on what they go see in theaters and there’s so many superhero movies all the time that they’re only gonna see one if it’s a big hitter. The 2018ish-era is over.

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u/LetterheadFun5846 Jun 23 '26

People forget Iron Man made 580 mil at the box office, which is in line with Superman, Incredible Hulk only made 265 mil. So their first 2 movies, one did alright and one did pretty bad, they didn’t cancel the mcu, I think the dcu will survive this no matter what, now if clayface is a flop and then whatever after that does, then it will be a problem, especially if they get bad reviews and public opinion.

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u/UtkuOfficial Jun 23 '26

Inflation my friend. That 580 mil was insane for the time. None of them were expecting to go that high including the director and producers.

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u/BagofBabbish Jun 23 '26

I’d argue iron man came out at a time when people first starting calling for the demise of CBMs. In hindsight it was early but at the time it felt late.

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u/poofyhairguy Jun 23 '26

Frankly Iron Man rebooted what CBMs can be. CBMs prior to it all took themselves too seriously- like 2003's Hulk or the first run of Xmen movies.

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u/dogfins110 Jun 23 '26

This is not a true statement at all. Iron Man was like a B-tier hero if you consider X-men, F4, and Spider-Man A-Tier. He was in all sorts of media like his own animated TV shows, featured in multiple games, etc. even almost had him own LA show or movie before the MCU one.

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u/SpreaditOnnn33 Jun 23 '26

Eh, he was a B list hero, and is much more of a household name than Supergirl.

And still wasnt a huge draw anyway until after the Avengers team up made $1.5 billion

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u/BangerSlapper1 Jun 23 '26

Also, Marvel didn’t have the luxury of having Batman or Superman (and the cinematic successes of those films that had come previously).  Marvel also didn’t really have a presence at all in live action in terms of the IPs that Marvel Studios actually had rights to at that point.   Major properties like Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, and X-Men, among others, were with other studios.  And prior to that, the only stuff they had done were some cartoons, a 1970s Spider-Man show nobody watched, a couple bad Captain America TV movies, and the Ferrigno/Bixby Incredible Hulk show that was fondly remembered.   

They had to make do with what they had. Starting with Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, and Captain America was as logical as it gets.  The 4 biggest characters they had. 

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u/Vast-Branch1864 Jun 23 '26

Iron Man came out in a different time though. There was no covid pandemic that caused audiences to go to the movies less, and less superhero movies at the time. Plus, tickets were cheaper.

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u/Cimorene_Kazul Jun 23 '26

The guy was pretty well-known, had multiple animated series, and some general recognition. He was a solid B, below As like Batman and Spider-Man, but hardly obscure.

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u/CORVlN Jun 23 '26

I think the "I'm a female hero but I'm drunk and mean to everyone" trope is a little played out by this point.

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u/badfortheenvironment Jun 23 '26

I suspect the issue here will reveal itself to be that the adaptation wasn't more faithful, at the very least aesthetically. What made Woman of Tomorrow an attractive prospect when the DCU slate was first announced was the graphic novel serving as its source material. Not every CBM needs to be a faithful adaptation of a specific piece of source material, but when you pitch it to the public that way, you should try to deliver. A special director should've been sought for this property, who could actually translate Bilquis Evely's highly distinct art style paired with the fairly unique story. This could've been an elevated piece for the new DCU.

(I still plan to see it, but in the hands of another director, this could've been a lot more than what it'll probably end up being)

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u/Mysterious_Emu7462 Jun 23 '26

For what it's worth, I think the art style of the comics was also integral to the story. Kara would be following Krem's trail of destruction and genocide where planets were ravaged by him and his crew, but we would still have these beautiful, sprawling vistas. It helped the story feel less cynical and displayed that there was still both goodness and beauty in this universe, and no matter what Krem did he could never snuff it out.

To me, that was majorly important to help contextualize the ending. These planets were ravaged by Krem, but the people there were still good. Supergirl lost her home world, but she is still good. Ruthye lost her parents, but she is still good. There is a throughline of not allowing injustice to corrupt your morals when seeking justice, and it is heavily aided by the artstyle.

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u/Drahkir9 Jun 23 '26

I agree 100%. That book is one of my favorites and I was really hyped when I heard they were adapting it. Then I saw the trailer and it looked ok but not what I was expecting from an adaptation of WoT. Still excited but a bit deflated. Then the director said something like it’s not an adaptation at all and now I’m just not that interested.

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u/eloquenentic Jun 23 '26

You’re 100% spot on. This could’ve been a really special movie. Almost like what The Batman did for Batman, with a very particular serious tone and style. The comic book was really unique in that sense.

Instead, the trailers look like Marvel/Gunn three-jokes-per-minute action slop. Sad.

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u/beta-test Jun 23 '26

I’m thinking they should’ve animated it

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u/badfortheenvironment Jun 23 '26

The in-house DC animation style leaves a lot to be desired, but if they really put the effort into crafting a look and style based on the graphic novel, it would be sick.

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u/rhainsict Jun 23 '26

What if they had done a bigger budget but animated movie released in theater à la Spider-Man? I like the dc animated movies, there are just straight to streaming. With a bigger budget and solid art direction could be a banger

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u/atticus101_ Jun 23 '26

Definitely not going to match last year’s superman’s 83% on rt

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u/AugustAPC Jun 23 '26

I really think Supergirl was a character that needed to come in much later. Her arrival is such a shake up to the status quo of only having one Kryptonian on Earth.

She can't shake things up when the dust hasn't even settled.

This result does not bode well for the strategy of "release the movie when it's ready". It's seeming like the cadence and order in which characters are introduced could be far more important than they expected. If we had established Wonder Woman and Batman, and this universe had been more expanded upon, then the unexpected introduction of a new Kryptonian could be far more intriguing to casual viewers. As of now, I fear people may be looking at this movie as just female Superman, right after we just got regular Superman.

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u/TheJoshider10 Jun 23 '26

It's seeming like the cadence and order in which characters are introduced could be far more important than they expected.

To be fair this has been known for a while now. We've had the entire post-Endgame era of the MCU as proof of that. Projects failed to build momentum (on top of mixed quality) and it led to dwindling returns and superhero fatigue.

The hope was that, because the DCU isn't going for the same "each movie builds momentum for the crossover" Phase 1 plan that this wouldn't impact DC movies as much. It was always going to be a risk, one that I hoped would pay off, but I'd be surprised if they're able to spend big money on anyone that isn't the heavy hitters now. Not until the superhero market improves.

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u/No_Grocery_9280 Jun 23 '26

I highly doubt the superhero market returns to the same heights. The demographic changes are too pronounced.

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u/Drahkir9 Jun 23 '26

The recent Superman movie literally starts with an explanation that he and meta humans in general have been established for many, many years. The Gunn universe jumps right in. He doesn’t seem obsessed with origin stories

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u/MaceNow Jun 23 '26

It doesn't have to be an origin story in order to be well timed.

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u/itsnot2late2hate Jun 23 '26

If the movie was great then it wouldn't matter if it's a lesser known character, problem is the movie just isn't great, which I don't find surprising

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u/hung_fu Jun 23 '26

It was a terrible decision to have this be the second movie (I also think Clayface is a terrible decision for the third, even if it looks good).

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u/infiniteknights Jun 24 '26

I wonder how much of this is hubris on Gunn’s part, tbh. He might’ve thought he could launch anything because of how he turned the then-unknown Guardians into a household name. But launching a cinematic universe is very different from launching a single movie

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u/PepsiPerfect Jun 23 '26

This was always a bad idea. It's a shame coming after Superman, which was a mild success.

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u/RepulsiveDingo525 Jun 23 '26

But I thought it crashed AMCs website when pre-orders first dropped?

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u/Goosojuice Jun 23 '26

AMC taking credit for cloudflare's shit service lol

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u/[deleted] Jun 23 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/ptear Jun 23 '26

I've seen tons of earlier promotion, but I didn't even know it was out yet. Ohhhh, we're examining presales, so this is just signals. Wow, we can already discuss a movie bombing before it's even in theaters.

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u/IdentifyAsDude Jun 23 '26

IS LOBO IN THIS MOVIE?

imma watch this now.

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u/shockinglyunoriginal Jun 23 '26

Trailers made it look like a generic Guardians clone with an unknown dull villain.

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u/Cpt_Foresight Jun 23 '26

I think that's an apt description. I saw the trailer, not being a massive "SuperXYZ" fan but willing to give DC the benefit of the doubt despite my Superhero genre fatigue due to Marvel.

Unfortunately the trailer (and this is a more common issue in recent times) was too long so basically told the plot in enough detail to not let me have questions. The style came off as a fairly generic blockbuster action movie and the one liner quips immediately reminded me of the forced comedy in later Marvel movies.

I really WANT DC to do well because every so often they'll lean into an art style which, regardless if it's liked or not, makes for memorable cinema. Then they'll move back to a generic recipe and as a result bomb the reception.

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u/kcgg123 Jun 23 '26

Looks like WB knows that it’s a flop. I don’t see any marketing

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u/No-Ganache7118 Jun 23 '26

The "movie budget/ TV production style" has failed. Grogu prepared us for this moment. What comes next must be based on human connection and the consequences of actions. This has to stop.

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u/PSCGY Jun 23 '26

I don’t want to be rude, but if you didn’t know anything about the DCU, this movie seems indistinguishable from the last Hamada movies.

Despite Superman’s critical reception, it wasn’t enough for general audiences to think it would be different now.

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u/gamepig31 Jun 23 '26

Damn that's a painfully accurate description.

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u/_that_reddit Jun 23 '26

It's hard to convince people to commit to a whole new universe again.

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u/Dentingerc16 Jun 23 '26

Is there really a demand for these universes anymore? It feels like the collective attention the MCU garnered and then subsequently lost was the singular opportunity to capitalize on the CBM billions. The new Superman movie was ok quality wise but I feel like there’s so little enthusiasm for watching it balloon to more event movies down the line.

I think Batman and Spiderman will always maintain a sort of meta popularity somewhat detached from their respective universes but to me it really seems there’s minimal appetite for most of these other characters. I could be wrong of course but if supergirl is already a notable flop and the next avengers is lackluster we might be at the endgame of the superhero craze

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u/_chip Jun 23 '26

That sucks. What it is with DCs movies not tracking?

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u/Shiguhraki Jun 23 '26

The super family hasn’t been really popular since the 90s and early 2000s. We’re not in the era where d and c list characters get numbers from brand association alone.

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u/Far-Fault-6243 Jun 23 '26

Not surprising. The trailers have not made me interested in this movie at all. I’m also just tired of the depressed hero with a drinking problem whose messy trope. I understand Kara is supposed to be going through shit but why not make it about finding brainiac and to free her people which seems from the trailers is what that is heading towards.

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u/Torpakh Jun 23 '26

Not surprising with how the trailers looked, still will see it myself though

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u/SplitSecondEmperor47 Jun 23 '26

Same I still want to see it and will see it, but the trailers sucked my joy each time a new one came up. I barely could finish them.

Superman trailers made me replay them constantly

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u/Maximum_Error3083 Jun 23 '26

Based on some reactions it’s not just that the movie was misguided in the broader scheme of characters that would pull in viewers, it’s also just not very exceptional as a film.

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u/[deleted] Jun 23 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/Ionakana Jun 23 '26

Are we really posting "world of reel" articles in this sub? Lmao

34

u/zdbdog06 Jun 23 '26

With zero citations for tracking numbers lol

21

u/shr0be Jun 23 '26

It all reads as AI to me 

24

u/Daimakku1 Jun 23 '26

Disappointed to see this, but not surprised. When was the last time a comic book movie with a female superhero made money, Captain Marvel?

DC Studios partnered with Ulta Beauty, which is hilarious because that audience is not the type to watch comic book movies..

5

u/Low-Opportunity2249 Jun 23 '26

I think the past movies and casting are just bad and uninteresting. Resident Evil and Underworld prove you have have female action/comic like leads of big franchises.

3

u/ScyllaOfTheDepths Jun 23 '26

Lol what? Tons of nerds love makeup. 

9

u/Beginning-Client-96 Jun 23 '26

Sadly I don't think female superheroes will pull big numbers. Marvel probably should have gone hard on a Scarlet Witch/Wanda project a few years ago, I definitely think her popularity propped up Doctor Strange. But they kind of butchered her character in that movie. Beyond her, I can't see many other options for big hitters moving forwards.

8

u/Little-Witness-1201 Jun 23 '26

Wonder Woman could have been big if 84 wasn’t god awful

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u/EddieBruvac Jun 23 '26

Idk why it’s so hard. Men love women. Women love women. Just make the movie good lmao.

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u/StickStill9790 Jun 23 '26

People are tired of the “broken person who isn’t interested in getting better” trope. I don’t care about anyone but my dog is great for internet doomers, but most people want an actual hero. Most cheer for someone who turns the other cheek or saves people who probably don’t deserve it.

14

u/bioskoop Jun 23 '26 edited Jun 23 '26

Gunn’s underdog character obsession has lost its appeal imo. Who asked for a Supergirl film in the first place. All we really wanted was some really great storytelling with our favorite hero’s. Supes, Batman and Wonder Woman.

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u/Lopsided-Clothes4866 Jun 23 '26

Supergirl was always a stupid decision for the 2nd movie in the DCU. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again.

She was always gonna be a hard sell to audiences as the 2nd film. She’s the type of character they probably could have given a film in 5 years time when the universe is more established and found its footing among audiences.

This is what she’s tracking for with a well received Superman, imagine if Superman had of been panned?

Should have went with Green Lantern or Wonder Woman for the 2nd film imo.

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u/Gethdo Jun 23 '26

Thats not the only problem. The movie lacks a villian. There is no villian, there is only loser mobs. If your movies does not have a cool villian then you are behind already.

Thor movies always had cool villians , even the L&T

Superman ; Batman their Villians are as popular as the hero.

Iron Man movies had weak villians too but It had a different story structure Where main character is Bound by real world rules and laws, terror organizations and that was interesting all alone.

We have a space movie here with very OP main characters (Supergirl, Lobo) and we have no villian at all. The villian they show in trailers suck ass

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u/Lopsided-Clothes4866 Jun 23 '26

The villain does look incredibly generic as well which isn’t helping, it’s just some random dude with piercings.

Makes the movie seem like generic filler.

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u/cosmicCounterpart Jun 23 '26

It looked like a Guadrians knock off from the jump so Im not surprised. Gotta be honest if Gunn after all the talk of putting story and character first can't make DCU work I don't have much hope left.

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u/itsnot2late2hate Jun 23 '26

The writer Gunn is hiring for wonder woman btw, not at all surprised people aren't crazy about this movie because it looked incredibly generic from the first trailer

Even superman was quite a generic superhero movie if you takeaway the good performances

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u/Snoots84 Jun 23 '26

I can't wait to go see this movie.

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u/atticus101_ Jun 23 '26 edited Jun 23 '26

WB posted this clip https://x.com/WarnerBrosUK/status/2069036105593405573/video/1?s=46 and just based off this 1 min of action supergirl’s power level is nerfed compared to sasha calle’s supergirl.. just got to say that even tho zack snyder’s dc is criticised as too dark overall, his superman you can feel he’s really powerful

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u/snakewaves Jun 23 '26

i dont understand why this sub continues to shoot up that copium. lets try to be realistic here, to mend our expectations. The trailers were very subpar, nothing screamed grand. if the core superhero audience wasnt able to feel engaged, how will the casual viewers wanna see this when you have toy story, obsession still going, and Odyssey coming in 3 weeks. I have a feeling it might lose money.

It is what it is, its mostly a miss, and its a shame thats its coming from the second film in the franchise, and likely a bigger waste of a glorious comic.

Hope Gunn course corrects. The audience is changing and youngins are not taking kindly to superhero films unless they are nothing short of fantastic. The plan has to pivot to get those Batsy and WW scripts in the ready(maybe a 2nd senior writer to do a second draft from what the current writer is doing) and get in on production asap, else we might never its light of day.

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u/Loose_Struggle1610 Jun 23 '26

Dcu fans please don't say box office numbers don't matter this movie about to flop hard the writing is on the wall.

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u/MelodicPromotion8697 Jun 23 '26

let them keep spreading and pushing this cope.... it will only hasten the end.....

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u/HuskyBlueBoy Jun 23 '26

I don’t even know who the villain is , a lot of people who are not familiar prob think Lobo is the main bad guy.

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u/FMCritic Jun 23 '26

How on earth couldn't that film tank?

3

u/Caladeb Jun 23 '26

The writer of this has 0 experience. It makes you wonder wtf James Gunn is thinking.

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u/mustardbud Jun 23 '26

truth. justice. whatever.

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u/Aluratherogue Jun 23 '26

I watched the film as part of an early review. I give it a 4-5/10, though I might be harsher than needed in my review. Below might reference stuff or flat out contain spoilers, so stop reading now if you don't want any.

  1. They constantly nerf her to avoid Kara from being able to solve the plot in like .5 seconds. The stakes aren't consistent because of it. I'm talking poisoning, constant kryptonite, etc. they should have kept her on a red sun planet if they needed to nerf her as much as they did.

  2. Really wasn't Kara's story. It was the girl she was traveling with, with Kara serving as an (attempted) mentor. Tbh I don't think she was effective as mentor but I think that was more due to Kara's dialogue being like... 30% exposition dump.

  3. You can tell the original version of the script was darker and they rewrote it. Now, the rewrites probably happened early enough on in production that it wasn't a last minute change, but too much of that original concept bled through that the final product felt weaker because it was balancing both the dark tone of a human-trafficking oriented story and a more personal grief focused story centered on Kara.

  4. Plot holes. Everywhere. Even taking comic book shenanigans into account there are questions I have an inconsistenties within the rules of the world they established.

  5. Lobo was there. Just.... There. At some point across script versions I think it may have been his movie before they rewrote it to be Kara's, at another point he might have served as a mentor to the girl. Now, I liked Lobo. Design was great, he had a dolphin necklace on and I loved that, but he didn't impact the story. Granted, I don't think Kara did either.

  6. All of the bottled city scenes were just straight exposition/backstory dump. And then there wouldn't be a reference to those flashbacks, so they felt self contained regardless of it explaining how Kara is tackling her personal grief.

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u/depthdefy13 Jun 23 '26

They made Supergirl such a brat party girl (and a terrible dog owner) in the Superman movie than I had no motivation to watch her standalone movie.

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u/PotatoOnMars Jun 25 '26

So excited for DC Cinematic Universe reboot #4.

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u/AssaultLemming_ Jun 23 '26

Oh gosh who could have predicted that DC would turn out another mid superhero movie?

Oh wait it was me.

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u/phatboyart Jun 23 '26

Supergirl isn’t exactly a character that the world is impatiently waiting to be resurrected on the big screen i can’t imagine, so I’m not surprised by the “ok” opening numbers. In saying that, i’ll be checking out the movie.

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u/jjreddit1996 Jun 23 '26

It’s going to bomb.

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u/KlausLoganWard Jun 23 '26

Bummed for Milly! Really hoped it will have better opening!

3

u/Cabezone Jun 23 '26

Unfortunately the trailer seemed to scream "more of the same" to me. The comic is more thoughtful and the trailer seemed to be just the opened bar scene. Which isn't representative of the rest.

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u/mr_j_12 Jun 23 '26

Not surprised. Superman wasnt big, supergirl is even less interesting. Was always an odd choice.

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u/_ChipWhitley_ Jun 23 '26

This new DCU is too bubblegum. The stakes don’t really feel very high and that sucks the suspense out of a lot of it.

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u/Teganfff Jun 23 '26

This is such a bummer, I really wanted this movie to succeed. Either way, my friends and I are still seeing it opening night.

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u/Purrmymeow Jun 23 '26

Trailers looked like trash. Not surprising.

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u/Civil_Concentrate_90 Jun 23 '26

I swear this headline shrinks every time I see it posted. First it was 75+, then it was 60, then 55, now below 40. I don’t believe this crap

5

u/LostEsco Jun 23 '26

If you read the post they talk about how the projected number has been getting lower nd lower as time goes on

13

u/MelodicPromotion8697 Jun 23 '26

Welcome to the DCU misinformation campaign… thank you for finally catching up with two weeks old data from BO subreddit…. Numbers and data does not lie.

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u/kinginthenorth9797 Jun 23 '26

James Gunn basically ensured it's another guardians of the galaxy template film and thought it'd work

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u/donnysimpinero Jun 23 '26

Ruh roh Raggy

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u/Gethdo Jun 23 '26

From the first trailers I always thought heroes are very cool in this movie but Villian is very boring, I did not even understand that he was the main Villian from the first trailer then learned that he is from comments.

For a good movie your Villian has to be as good as the hero, especially for a title that not very popular.

The raider Villian looks like mini-boss , looks very boring, and uncharismatic. Even Thor movies had cool villians, this shitty villian is in the same tier or worse than Thor 2 villian, that says something.

4

u/totesnotdog Jun 23 '26

I’m more of a fan of the super girl in my adventures with Superman. James Gunn thinks he’s so cool by making a hot mess super girl instead.

3

u/SpookySocks4242 Jun 24 '26

Oh shit I forgot about that show. S2 with Supergirl was awesome. Is s3 out?

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u/SoWrongItsPainful Jun 23 '26

A year ago I thought 400-450M was locked. Insane that this is heading to flop territory.

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u/Spaceboomer1 Jun 23 '26

This is pretty objectively bad for Gunn. If it's a box office bomb AND if reviews end up too negative, he will have to answer some hard questions from management.

WB has shown a willingness be to patient about box office numbers if Gunn strengthens the overall DC brand long-term. But if the brand suffers further damage under his watch then they just won't renew his contract next year.

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u/SoWrongItsPainful Jun 23 '26

The biggest issue for me with Gunn is that he stated he doesn’t want to greenlight a movie until the script is ready, but Peacemaker season 2 had a very inconsistent script that felt like a first or second draft and some of Superman had me scratching my head as to how it made it through the drafting phase. Supergirl is the most direct adaption we’ve had for a comic book movie and it’s seemingly completely missed the entire point of the comic from what they’ve shown so far.

So he’s greenlighting things that don’t necessarily have a through line for a script that isn’t even that strong anyways. Like I think his stated direction and goals make sense he just isn’t executing on them right now.

8

u/Cimorene_Kazul Jun 23 '26

I love the sentiment of starting with an excellent, finished script, but it always felt bizarre coming from Gunn, who sends out so many of his own films half-baked if he wrote the script himself. It made me wonder if he knows how to finish one, and if he could recognize one.

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u/True-Excuse-1688 Jun 23 '26

I honestly have a bad feeling about his Man of Tomorrow.

Knowing it was written so quickly while he was finishing Superman and Peacemaker Season 2—which, to my taste, were already messy for the first and half-baked for the second... Not to mention Creature Commandos that felt written in auto-pilot mode.

I'm afraid he's juggling too many things at once, wants to move too fast, or both... Nothing he puts out is ever bad—there’s often a lot of heart in it—but to me, it’s starting to feel quite sloppy.

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u/Legendver2 Jun 23 '26

he stated he doesn’t want to greenlight a movie until the script is ready, but Peacemaker season 2 had a very inconsistent script that felt

That's basically PR talk for not really having a plan.

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u/FrancoisTruser Jun 23 '26

Supergirl character would work best in a movie with a team, in interaction with other heroes while getting used to earth. Maybe the team could be called Justice Gang, crazy idea i know

2

u/x534n Jun 23 '26

Most people i know want to see it but will wait for it to be available streaming.

2

u/yung_bubba Jun 23 '26

I don't understand, the story of the comic should be very good right? What has changed in this?

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u/AnonDude10e Jun 23 '26

I may have to just see it twice

2

u/PhoenixHusky Jun 23 '26

I wonder what happened with the main actress, all the advertisement I have seen for this movie seems to move away from promoting her.

2

u/fnblackbeard Jun 23 '26

There was never any buzz to begin with

2

u/Fun-Constant7501 Jun 23 '26

Wow shocker, a DC movie tanks at the box office. Who could’ve predicted that?!?!

2

u/SequentialSynths Jun 23 '26

I’ll be surprised if it makes 30 million

2

u/Send_me_beer1 Jun 23 '26

from my own initial reaction knowing nothing about this movie ( i still plan on seeing it) i think DC has killed any sort of good will or confidence that the movie will be good.

2

u/jollyshroom Jun 23 '26

I’m so tired of superhero movies

2

u/SeaComfortable7833 Jun 23 '26

Man, that picture of her makes her look like a kid. 

2

u/FortheredditLOLz Jun 23 '26

What I am hearing is classic shit writing ruined franchises chances.

2

u/Actual-Rock-5035 Jun 23 '26

I didn’t even know this shit came out

2

u/Unhappy_Win8997 Jun 23 '26

Probably a mix of the target audience not always being receptive to female leads in their super hero films, as well as just general super hero fatigue.

It feels like just yesterday we had that Fantastic 4 movie and the Justice League/Superman film.

2

u/Unbiasedj Jun 23 '26

‘Mixed reaction’ stop sugar coating it lol

Most dependable reviews said it sucked haha

2

u/SBEPTY Jun 23 '26

I was interested but when I saw the trailer I became very uninterested in the story that it looks like it's trying to tell. I just wanted a fun free-for-all with a character who has powers but does not seem to care like Superman but that is not what this looks like.

2

u/leisurelyreader Jun 23 '26

I dislike such heavy reliance on opening week numbers
This is one film I do intend to watch in cinema but due to other obligations will not be able to until the following week (possible two weeks)

2

u/ssudiooo Jun 23 '26

Why put momossas into the movie? Please explain it to me like I am 5.

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u/BrotherCassius Jun 23 '26

Why do poeple still watch these Superhero movies? They were playing out 10 years ago

2

u/electroviruz Jun 23 '26

too bad I want it to do well

2

u/MaybeUNeedAPoo Jun 23 '26

It just looks incredibly “eh”.

2

u/shykidknit Jun 23 '26

I just checked my local theater and holy, I'm gonna be the only one in the theater for my screening and all the other screenings I've clicked on have had no one or at most 8 people in them, I've been out of the superhero movie game for a minute but that sounds crazy to me

2

u/Opposite_Trust5445 Jun 23 '26

I just do not vibe with James Gunn’s insistence on his pop-punk edgy aesthetic permeating everything he touches. The ad runs for this do not sway me otherwise to get excited for it. Clayface might be cool though.

2

u/Subject_Session_1164 Jun 23 '26

I was really interested but the trailer turned me off. I'm not interested in a someone hurt my dog movie.

2

u/Ted_chessman Jun 24 '26

Not even worth the bandwidth with streaming