Spoilers Supergirl

[Paul Farquhar]

I really don't think the success or failure has much to do with how well known the hero is, outside of Batman, Superman, Spiderman and Hulk. This film not being successful is down to 3 factors, none of which connect to the popularity of the character or the quality of the movie.

1) General decline in casual cinema-going post Covid.

2) Superhero fatigue is real (just as Western fatigue largely killed that genre 50 years ago).

3) It has a female lead and audiences are sexist.

 

[Zardnaar]

I really don't think the success or failure has much to do with how well known the hero is, outside of Batman, Superman, Spiderman and Hulk. This film not being successful is down to 3 factors, none of which connect to the popularity of the character or the quality of the movie.

1) General decline in casual cinema-going post Covid.

2) Superhero fatigue is real (just as Western fatigue largely killed that genre 50 years ago).

3) It has a female lead and audiences are sexist.

Number 1 is completely bogus BTW.

2026 is banger year. Its projections are very good and so far.

2026 Worldwide Box Office

www.boxofficemojo.com

Spiderman. Odyssey, Dune, Doomsday and others still to come.

Its on track to 2019 levels.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Number 1 is completely bogus BTW.

A great many cinemas have closed down. Others have ripped out a great many seats (to put in larger more comfortable ones). They couldn’t go back to pre-Covid levels even if people wanted to. There isn't the capacity.

2026 is banger year. Its projections are very good and so far.

2026 Worldwide Box Office

www.boxofficemojo.com

Spiderman. Odyssey, Dune, Doomsday and others still to come.

Its on track to 2019 levels.

I predict at least one of those will flop, two will “disappoint”.

 

[ART!]

I really don't think the success or failure has much to do with how well known the hero is, outside of Batman, Superman, Spiderman and Hulk.

Everybody seems to have their short-list of most popular superheroes, and none of them are the exact same list. This means some of us are wrong!

This film not being successful is down to 3 factors, none of which connect to the popularity of the character or the quality of the movie.

1) General decline in casual cinema-going post Covid.

2) Superhero fatigue is real (just as Western fatigue largely killed that genre 50 years ago).

3) It has a female lead and audiences are sexist.

There are other reasons and factors. For instance, there's some recent insight from THR into the trouble this movie had at the editing stage.

 

[AnotherGuy]

This film not being successful is down to 3 factors, none of which connect to the popularity of the character

So basically you're ignoring all of comic history and stats. Good to know.

or the quality of the movie.

You're saying there was nothing that could have been improved upon in the movie that could be a contributing factor.

3) It has a female lead and audiences are sexist.

Why didn't the women audience watch it? Were they also sexist?

Disney and their affiliates have a history of blaming the audience and men when a project of theirs does not do well. It does not appear to be a great strategy when the demographic you rely on to fill the seats is also the demographic you blame when those seats do not get filled.
If that is not the demographic they wish to rely on for sales, then why is the new demographic not supplementing those lost seats.
Why blame the previous demographic whom you were not relying on.
Make this make sense.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

You're saying there was nothing that could have been improved upon in the movie that could be a contributing factor.

Correct. It doesn't matter how good a film is if people don't see it. This was a good movie. Mando & Grogu was a good movie. HAT was a good movie. People didn't go to see them because the internet told them not to.

Why didn't the women audience watch it? Were they also sexist?

Comic book movie audiences are male dominated, just as animated Disney movie audiences are female dominated. Hence Disney changing the gender of the protagonist in Hexed. Either way, it's because people are sexist.

Of course, if Supergirl had worn a skimpy costume the movie would probably have done better.

 

[Eric V]

I mean, what's the definition of "good movie" here?

 

[AnotherGuy]

Correct. It doesn't matter how good a film is if people don't see it. This was a good movie. Mando & Grogu was a good movie. HAT was a good movie. People didn't go to see them because the internet told them not to.

I cannot comment on the Star Wars movies/series as I do not follow those, but I did watch Masters of the Universe which I was disappointed in and would NOT classify it as a good movie. Morrus regarded MotU as better than Supergirl.
You saying that it was a good movie does not make it so.

Comic book movie audiences are male dominated, just as animated Disney movie audiences are female dominated. Hence Disney changing the gender of the protagonist in Hexed. Either way, it's because people are sexist.

Firstly this is a double standard.
So here you state comic book movie audiences are male, which would mean that comic book audiences skew predominantly male and yet you ignore that Supergirl is not a popular character based on comic books sales by these same male audiences and yet you discount the character's popularity being a factor for the movie.
i.e. the percentage of comic book fans that enjoy a Supergirl comic is a fraction of the entire comic book fandom and yet this is of no concern in your estimation of why this movie did not do well.

Second, when a female lead does well, what happens to these sexists?
Why are they so temperamental in their sexism in your opinion?

Of course, if Supergirl had worn a skimpy costume the movie would probably have done better.

Yes and?

 

[chuckdee]

Population 330 million USA.

Its a number. About 4% of the population.

The vast majority of people haven't watched anything she's in. Those who did 90%+ checked out. She hasn't been around consistently in population culture to the same extent as bigger super heros either or exploded since 2008.

And a cameo in a movie that did decently but low side for the big name super heroes. Se has some recognition but very little reason to care unless youre a hard core fan.

Also have to remember movies a large % tends to come from outside the USA.

Being unknown by itself isnt a deal breaker eg MCU. But you need momentum going forward. DC in particular has had a horrible run last few movies. They can claim a reboot but people will remember.

Theres other things going on as well probably super hero fatigue outside the big names, DC issues in particular. Scarface is probably even less known than she is but it has a drastically lower budget.

Ratings are not calculated based on the population of the United States. Again shifting goalposts. Look at the entirety of what I said in that post where I first gave that number and quit cherry picking.

 

[Clint_L]

I mean, what's the definition of "good movie" here?

There’s no one objective definition, because it’s art. On a personal level, your opinion is all that matters.

More objectively, we could look at consensus, both popular (ticket sales, buzz) and critical (reviews, awards, etc.). I think that gives a decent picture of how a film is widely regarded.

I tend to skew towards critical reception. Thunderbolts tanked at theatres, but I consider it a good film, and was well received by critics. Suicide Squad did great at the box office, but was a turkey with critics; I thought it sucked. OTOH, The Suicide Squad was pretty good despite being a commercial flop (and gave us Peacemaker, which I love).