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Ask anyone under 30 about Halle Berry’s Catwoman movie and you’ll probably get a blank stare. Released back in 2004, the film didn’t become a meme like 2015’s Fantastic Four did — it just vanished. No cult following, no ironic rewatches. It simply disappeared from the cultural conversation. Supergirl might be headed down that same forgotten path.
If box office numbers tell us anything about which movies stick around in people’s minds, DC Studios has a problem. Supergirl is now the lowest-grossing DC-related theatrical release since Catwoman, and that’s not a comparison anyone at Warner Bros. wanted to be making this summer.
As of this writing, Supergirl has pulled in roughly $110 million worldwide. That’s enough to edge past Catwoman’s $82 million haul from over two decades ago, but it’s still the second-worst showing for any live-action DC film ever released.
To climb past 2023’s Blue Beetle and shake off last place among recent DC movies, Supergirl needs another $20 million at the box office. Whether it gets there is anyone’s guess at this point.
Where Supergirl Ranks Among DC’s Worst Performers
It’s not exactly lonely company. Several other DC releases have struggled to find audiences over the years:
- Shazam! Fury of the Gods (2023)
- The Suicide Squad (2021) – $168 million
- Wonder Woman 1984 (2020) – $169 million
- Watchmen (2009) – $185 million
- Birds of Prey (2020) – $205 million
- Green Lantern (2011) – $219 million
- The Flash (2023) – $271 million
Now, the old DCEU (DC Extended Universe) made plenty of mistakes, and nobody’s arguing it deserves a redemption tour. But some of those numbers come with an asterisk attached.
The Suicide Squad and Wonder Woman 1984 both hit HBO Max the same day they opened in theaters — a pandemic-era decision that obviously tanked ticket sales. Birds of Prey wasn’t far behind; it hit theaters just weeks before COVID shut everything down.
Those films had real excuses.
Supergirl doesn’t. There’s no pandemic to blame here, no simultaneous streaming release cutting into theater attendance. This one’s on its own, and that should worry everyone with a stake in the DCU’s (DC Universe’s) future — studio executives, the creative teams, and longtime fans alike.
Here’s what makes it sting even more: those other movies, despite dealing with circumstances completely out of their control, are still outperforming Supergirl. That’s a bad look, especially given that Supergirl was supposed to build on the momentum from 2025’s Superman, which audiences and critics actually liked.
Can Clayface Turn Things Around?
Attention now shifts to Clayface, the DCU’s next live-action release. Expectations are cautiously optimistic — the film only cost $40 million to make, early reactions have been positive, and horror movies tend to deliver strong returns on investment regardless of star power or franchise ties.
There’s a catch, though. Unlike The Batman and its upcoming sequel, Clayface technically exists within the DCU continuity — but don’t expect it to matter much down the line.
Clayface isn’t going to show up alongside Wonder Woman at the Justice League’s Watchtower someday. That role — connecting to the larger universe James Gunn and Peter Safran are building — was supposed to belong to Supergirl.
