Warner Bros. ′ In a setback for the fledgling DC movie operation, ‘Supergirl’ was no match for ‘Toy Story 5’ at the box office, opening a distant second to the Pixar blockbuster.
‘Toy Story 5’ topped the North American box office
After a near-record debut for an animated movie, “Toy Story 5” remained at the box office with $70 million in domestic ticket sales and another $89.1 million overseas, according to studio estimates on Sunday. The Walt Disney Co release quickly collected USD 585 million worldwide in two weeks, making it one of the biggest hits of the year.The film is also expected to finish as the biggest entry in the 31-year-old franchise, a record currently tied with ‘Toy Story 4’ at USD 1.07 billion.
‘Supergirl’ makes a disappointing debut
‘Supergirl’, however, failed to take off. It opened with USD 38 million in US and Canadian theaters. It added UDS 30 million in overseas markets. With this, the film made an estimated worldwide debut of US$68 million. The film cost an estimated USD 170 million to make.Craig Gillespie’s superhero spinoff is the second big-screen release from James Gunn and Peter Safran, who have been tapped to helm the late 2022 DC studio. Their first release, 2025’s ‘Superman’, grossed USD 618 million worldwide, a strong-enough start for the duo. Gunn, who served as a producer on ‘Supergirl’, handed the direction to ‘I, Tonya’ and ‘Cruella’ filmmaker Gillespie.But the Millie Alcock-led film flopped with both critics and moviegoers. Reportedly trimmed significantly after test screenings, Gillespie’s film received poor reviews from audiences (56% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes) and a “B-” CinemaScore. In the film, she plays Supergirl or Lara Zor-El, Superman’s younger cousin who is more party girl than world saver.‘Supergirl”s poor opening weekend leaves behind disappointing debuts like ‘The Flash’ (USD 55 million in 2023) and ‘The Green Lantern’ (USD 53 million in 2011) and just ahead of ‘Joker: Folie à Deux’ (USD 74 million in 2011).
Superhero movies no longer succeed at the box office
David A. Gross, who runs the movie consulting firm Franchise, noted that superhero movies no longer drive the box office the way they did pre-pandemic. There are fewer annual releases, and the genre’s box office is down about US$3.5 billion annually from its 2017-2019 peak.After huge successes like ‘Wonder Woman’ (USD 822 million in 2017) and ‘Captain Marvel’ (USD 1.13 billion in 2019), female-fronted superhero movies have also taken a downturn.The next DC release is ‘Clayface’, a body horror of DC characters, which will be released in October. The song’s ‘Superman’ follow-up, ‘Man of Tomorrow’, is currently in production. It is dated July 2027.
‘Obsession’ became the sixth highest grossing film of all time
The micro-budget horror phenomenon ‘Obsession’ continues to hold unusually strong. It took third place in the weekend with USD 9.8 million in its seventh weekend of release. Kari Barker’s film, made for less than USD 1 million, has now collected USD 233.9 million domestically and USD 108.9 million internationally for Focus Features.With a worldwide gross collection of over USD 370 million, the film is now poised to surpass ‘Paapi’ and become the highest-grossing live-action original film of the 2020s. The film officially overtakes ‘The Exorcist’ as the sixth highest-grossing horror movie of all time at the North American box office.
‘Jackass: The Best and Last ‘ made a USD 10.3 million worldwide debut
Paramount Pictures’ Jackass: Best and Last was the weekend’s other new wide release. Johnny Knoxville and Company’s latest stunt collection opened with USD 8.4 million from 2,855 theaters in North America but was a good result for a global debut of USD 10.3 million with USD 1.9 million from 19 markets. Forever’, debuted with US$23 million and eventually grossed US$80 million worldwide.
‘The Invite’ gets off to a bad start
Olivia Wilde’s dinner party comedy ‘The Invite’ has one of the best per-screen averages of the year. Opening on seven screens in New York and Los Angeles, it debuted with USD 379,104, good for a per-screen average of USD 54,158.Wilde’s third film as director stars Seth Rogen, Penelope Cruz and Edward Norton as a pair of San Francisco couples who meet for a one-night stand. A24 acquired the film after its buzzy Sundance Film Festival premiere. The indie distributor is hoping ‘The Invite,’ which expands next week and goes nationwide on July 10, can revive the largely dormant summer comedy.
Top 10 Movies at the Domestic Box Office
With final internal figures released Monday, according to Rentrak, this list covers estimated ticket sales at U.S. and Canadian theaters from Friday through Sunday:1. Toy Story 5 – USD70 million.2. Supergirl – USD 38 million.3. Obsession – USD 9.8 million.4. Jackass: The Best and Last – USD 8.4 million.5. Release day – USD 8.1 million.6. Backroom – USD 4.3 million.7. Scary Movie – USD 3 million.8. Masters of the Universe – USD 2.2 million.9. Bleach: The Thousand Year Blood War – Catastrophe – USD 2 million.10. Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu – USD 1.6 million.
