This past week, I wrote a piece about how Supergirl’s $108 million global box office total was the worst since 2004’s Catwoman, the infamous 8% Rotten Tomatoes-scored Halle Berry film. But now, after a whole new weekend, it is clear that Supergirl is not going to climb any higher on the list.
Supergirl has now made only $115 million in total after this past weekend, falling out of the top 5 entirely to #7. It will not reach the next film on the list, the DCU/DCEU-spanning Blue Beetle at $130 million, widely considered to be a big miss. But Supergirl is on another level.
The film isn’t great, but it isn’t that bad. There are dozens of worse superhero films that have made more money, but the reality of the situation cannot be ignored regardless. And it may have to change the direction of the DCU in ways that architect James Gunn may not love. As I’ve said before, I don’t think it’s a good idea to replace Gunn as the head of all this at this point, but that doesn’t mean changes aren’t needed.
The main thing here is that Gunn cannot rely on his typical MO of using smaller, often more obscure characters to open the DCU. Supergirl is “known,” sure, but there are probably a dozen more DC characters more relevant, and releasing a superhero sub-film right after Superman was not great. So, these projects:
Man of Tomorrow – Given the lack of DCU buzz right now, I really wonder if Man of Tomorrow is even going to surpass the original $618 million total of Superman, which itself was hardly a knock-out-of-the-park hit. And I think more people tuned into that given that it was the very first film in the DCU.
Peacemaker/Suicide Squad/Creature Commandos – At this point, we know that James Gunn likes teams of obscure misfits that come together to be heroes. But we are on the third, technically fourth time this has happened. Gunn’s Suicide Squad was a financial failure, despite its quality. A ton of time was spent on Peacemaker and Creature Commandos rather than on higher-profile DCU projects. I only think Gunn was able to find box office success with Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy movies because that was riding on the overall tidal wave of the MCU (and the movies were good). There is no similar wave with the DCU. These projects may be good, but that does not mean they are contributing to the overall success of the DCU, given the context.
Clayface – There is a meme going around that if James Gunn started the MCU, his first four movies would have been Iron Man, then Ironheart, then Venom, then Iron Man 2. Clayface would be the Venom here. It may technically be in the DCU, but it’s a very strange departure to focus on a single Batman villain by himself this early (complicating things, a comedic version of the character already appeared in Creature Commandos).
Lanterns – It’s certainly a choice to debut an important hero like Green Lantern in a TV show. This one could work out, and it does have a great cast, but there are some early rumors that, if they pan out, could really upset fans.
Wonder Woman – This will be tough. Casting has to be perfect, and the original Wonder Woman was one of the best-received, highest-earning movies in the DCEU. If it comes in below that in either box office or quality, that will be bad. It is also being written by the person who wrote Supergirl, Ana Nogueira.
Batman: The Brave and the Bold – This film always feels up in the air, especially juxtaposed against The Batman Part II, where Gunn has to contend with the very awkward situation of an existing Batman franchise everyone loves that is not connected to the DCU. Creating a parallel Batman and making it as good as or better than the other one is tough. And there is skepticism of Gunn picking The Flash director Andy Muschietti for the project.
Jimmy Olson/Gorilla Grodd Show – This has been announced and is moving forward. I mean sure, okay, but is this really the kind of thing DC should be spending time on right now, given how much work it has ahead of it?
There needed to be a more core setup here, and the DCU should have focused on 3-5 big heroes right away. Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and maybe Green Lantern or The Flash. Mixing and matching these hyper obscure characters with big ones, and positioning something like Supergirl this early, a movie that probably shouldn’t have been out for years, was clearly the wrong call. This has to change fast if we’re going to avoid more record-low superhero features.
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