SUPERGIRL Is a Huge Streaming Hit After Bombing at the Box Office

After crashing at the box office this summer, Supergirlhas finally found an audience, and apparently a pretty big one.

There’s plenty happening in the DCU right now. Lanterns is a smash hit on television, Man of Tomorrowis on the way, and The People v. Gorilla Grodd is currently filming, with the wild set photos and videos getting fans increasingly curious about what James Gunnand company are cooking up.

Still, DC hasn’t had a perfect year, and Milly Alcock’s Supergirl was easily one of its biggest disappointments.

The film arrived in theaters in June hoping to build on the success of Superman from the previous year. That didn’t happen. Supergirl bombed at the box office and earned a mixed response from critics.

Now Kara Zor-El is getting something of a second chance. Supergirl officially hit HBO Max on September 10th, and the movie has become the number one film on the streaming service. According to FlixPatrol, it’s currently outperforming the second-place movie, Practical Magic, by nearly two to one.

It also continues a trend we’ve seen plenty of times during the streaming era. A theatrical release can come and go without making much noise, only for the same movie to suddenly find a much larger audience once people can watch it from home as part of a subscription they’re already paying for.

The audience response to Supergirl also paints a more interesting picture than its box office numbers. The movie currently holds a 53% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes, while its audience score sits at 72% from more than 5,000 ratings. With the film now easily accessible on HBO Max, that audience number could continue to grow.

Part of the theatrical problem could simply come down to how people are choosing to spend their money. Going to the movies has become expensive, particularly for families, and audiences know that many major releases will be available at home within a relatively short period of time.

This summer also had Spider-Man: Brand New Day competing for superhero fans' attention and cash. For anyone interested in Supergirl but not desperate to see it immediately, waiting for HBO Max probably made plenty of financial sense.

Personally, though, I don’t think the disappointing theatrical performance can simply be blamed on ticket prices or audiences waiting for streaming.

I thought Supergirl was a super rough movie to get through. After all the talk from James Gunn about DC Studios making sure it had strong scripts before moving projects forward, I found the script and story here incredibly weak.

It was a frustrating disappointment because there were so many opportunities to do something genuinely cool with Kara and her corner of the DC Universe. One of the biggest missed opportunities was Jason Momoa as Lobo. Why wasn’t Lobo the primary villain!?

Building the movie around Kara and Lobo going head-to-head could have completely changed the dynamic of the story and given Supergirl a much stronger personality. Momoa playing Lobo is such an obvious piece of fun casting, and using him more substantially could have given Kara an awesome character to clash with.

Ugh. DC has to be smarter with these characters.

Regardless of how I feel about the movie, plenty of viewers clearly disagree, and its HBO Max numbers show that people are interested in watching Kara's adventure. That’s ultimately good news for the character because Supergirl’s future in the DCU isn’t tied entirely to the performance of her solo movie.

Kara Zor-El is already confirmed to return in next year’s Man of Tomorrow. We still don’t know how large her role will be, but her inclusion makes it clear that Gunn and DC Studios intend to keep her involved as this universe expands.

A direct Supergirl sequel seems unlikely after the movie’s theatrical performance, but that doesn’t mean Kara is going anywhere. She can continue appearing in other DCU projects, and if the movie keeps pulling strong streaming numbers, perhaps Warner Bros. and DC Studios will find another opportunity to give her the spotlight.

Hopefully, if that happens, Kara gets a stronger story worthy of the character. Alcock is a great choice for Supergirl, and there’s still a ton of potential here.

For now, though, Supergirl has accomplished something it couldn’t manage in theaters: it has become a hit.