An analyst on Warner Bros. Discovery’s Thursday earnings call put it plainly to CEO David Zaslav: “You haven’t talked about DC for a while. I know with films, sometimes they perform, sometimes they don’t. But is there any change in strategy?”
Zaslav’s answer never mentioned “Supergirl” by name.
Instead, according to Deadline, he pivoted straight to James Gunn’s “Man of Tomorrow.” “James is focused on Man of Tomorrow,” Zaslav told analysts. “I saw some pictures yesterday that looked amazing. She noted that the previous day had been James’ birthday, but he had spent it working. He’s working 16, 18 hours a day. It looks fantastic. We’re super excited about it.” He went on to mention Matt Reeves’ progress on “The Batman: Part II,” the upcoming “Clayface,” and HBO’s “Lanterns,” summing it up as a “robust pipeline.”
What he skipped is notable. Per MovieWeb, Zaslav also dropped the “bold 10-year plan” language he’s used on past earnings calls to describe Gunn and Peter Safran’s DC Universe relaunch — the same framing he leaned on heavily after “Superman” opened last year.
The reason for the change in tone isn’t hard to find. “Supergirl” closed its theatrical run with roughly $126 million worldwide against a production budget reported at $170 million, plus close to $120 million in marketing. Variety had flagged the film’s economics as a problem even before it opened, noting that a Supergirl-scale film can’t be budgeted like a “Batman” or “Superman” tentpole and still turn a profit on numbers like these. By comparison, “Superman” launched to $125 million domestically last summer on its way to $618 million globally.
It’s the first real box office stumble for Gunn and Safran’s rebooted DC Universe, and outlets tracking the earnings call weren’t shy about calling it what it was. ComicBook.com noted that one disappointment can be shrugged off, but a second or third stumble across “Lanterns,” “Clayface” and “Man of Tomorrow” would raise real questions about the direction of the franchise. World of Reel was more pointed, describing Zaslav’s answer as an attempt to talk around “Supergirl” entirely rather than address it.
This isn’t unfamiliar territory for Zaslav, who has a track record of enthusiastic public praise for DC projects that didn’t always match how they performed — he called “The Flash” the best superhero movie he’d ever seen at CinemaCon in 2023, a film that went on to lose the studio an estimated $200 million. The Hollywood Reporter also pointed out that Warner Bros. Discovery isn’t alone in managing a summer miss on an earnings call — Disney told its own shareholders this week that “Moana” and “The Mandalorian and Grogu” underperformed, while framing both as still contributing to the business elsewhere.
For now, DC’s near-term hopes rest on “Clayface,” out October 23 on a comparatively modest $40 million budget, and “Lanterns,” premiering on HBO later this month with Kyle Chandler and Aaron Pierre. “Man of Tomorrow” which reunites David Corenswet’s Superman and Milly Alcock’s Supergirl against Nicholas Hoult’s Lex Luthor and Lars Eidinger’s Brainiac, is expected to play a pivotal role in shaping the future of the DC Universe when it arrives in 2027.
