Supergirl, the second film in James Gunn’s DCU, has finally arrived in theaters. Despite Supergirl getting solid social media reactions, once the critical embargo was lifted, reviews were far less kind. Even though most critics have praised star Milly Alcock’s depiction of Supergirl, the film itself has been criticized for a weak script, poor action direction, and one notably bad needle drop. Even though Supergirl might not have won over critics, the real test will be how it fares with general audiences.
The Rotten Tomatoes audience score for Supergirl currently sits at 76% fresh, based on over 1,000 certified user reviews. This contrasts with the critical score for Supergirl, which is 58% on Rotten Tomatoes. That is about a 18% gap in critics and audiences. In terms of DCU, Superman also had a higher audience rating (90%) than critics (83%), though the difference was only 7%. That also means audiences generally preferred Superman to Supergirl by at least 14%.
The idea of audiences enjoying a movie, particularly a superhero movie, more than critics is not that notable. However, in Supergirl‘s case, the gap between critics and audiences is relatively modest. A more notable gap was 2025’s Captain America: Brave New World, which earned 46% on Rotten Tomatoes, while the audience score was 75%, resulting in a 29% difference. Supergirl actually has a similar audience-and-critic divide to Wonder Woman 1984. That DCEU sequel is at 57% on Rotten Tomatoes, though audiences gave the movie a 73%.
Audience score is a more nebulous metric, as it can just as easily be manipulated to skew a rating in a specific way. In most cases, female-centric projects are the target of review-bombing campaigns. This led Rotten Tomatoes to take steps to curb review-bombing by implementing more detailed verification processes for users to log reviews. Yet the same tools that can cast a film in a negative light can, in theory, also be used to bolster its popularity among a dedicated fanbase.
Warner Bros. and DC Studios are hoping the kinder audience reaction will translate into box-office word-of-mouth. Supergirl debuted to $7.8 million in previews, and is aiming for an opening weekend between $39 and $50 million. With a budget of $170 million, Warner Bros. reportedly will be happy if Supergirl can make $300 million worldwide. However, with mixed critical reception, a positive yet lukewarm audience response, and competition from the likes of Toy Story 5 and Minions & Mayhem, Supergirl faces many obstacles at the box office.
- Release Date
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June 26, 2026
- Runtime
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108 minutes
- Writers
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Ana Nogueira
- Producers
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James Gunn, Lars P. Winther, Nigel Gostelow, Peter Safran
This story originally appeared on Movieweb
