🫤 Factually not the case.
AMC reports their best May since pre-COVID. People ARE interested in going to the theatres again... it just seems like there's far less of an appetite for comic book/nerd genre stuff then there used to be.
Superman (Legacy)- Summer 2025
- Thread starter Steevy Maximus
- Start date
🫤 Factually not the case.
AMC reports their best May since pre-COVID. People ARE interested in going to the theatres again... it just seems like there's far less of an appetite for comic book/nerd genre stuff then there used to be.
Hmmn, looking at the film numbers, they are getting pretty close for the month of May(Short by about 9 million), but that is pretty much on the back of two films. A chick flick sequel and a bio pic on Michael Jackson.
However, if you compare April of 2019 to April 2026, you will find a totally different story.
Box office sales in April of 2026: $842,797,183
Box office sales in April of 2019: $1,034,963,090
Almost two hundred million dollars short.
This month is not looking good either. Another $126 million dollar shortfall compared to June 2019. Sure there are two days left in this month, but we are still going to be looking at the very least $100 million shortfall after two weekdays of Toy Story 5.
So AMC might be able to tout their May numbers are the best since Pre-covid, but they won't be bragging about any other numbers for a while.
I think declaring that data that runs counter to your point isn't a great look.
I think May 2026 was stronger than June 2026 because May 2026 had more movies people were interested in seeing in 2026.
May also had Backrooms. And Obsession. Two cheap horror movies that wildly exceeded expectations. Toy Story 5 seems to be doing well.
So those, taken with the MJ movie and the "chick flick sequel" tells me that there are movies the public is interested in seeing.
This is what I hate about this discourse in nerd circles. The assumption is theatres are dying if no sees superhero or toy franchise flicks.
No.
It's that people don't wanna see THOSE movies anymore, at least not as much as they used to. There are movies that people want to see and do see in theatres. Just not the movies that cater to your interests anymore.
And that's fine...but nerds need to stop conflating "no on wants to see nerd genres anymore" with movies and theatres in general. Cinema existed long before the 2000 X-Men movie and it'll continue to exist long after the last superhero flick finishes its run.
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I am a little confused as you seem to not get what I am saying here. I am comparing each month this year to its counterpart in 2019, aka Pre-covid. While I agree that May 2026 was a strong month for the box office, it still falls short of May 2019 (pre-covid) by $9 million.
I also am pointing out the May success is pretty much a fluke this year. The months before and after both show a huge difference in box office between now and pre-covid. June 2026 is going to be $100 million less than June 2019. April 2026 was almost $200 million less than April 2019. That is the data, and it does show that people aren't going to the theaters as much as they did in 2019, even with the strong showing this May.
Well, May 2026 vs June 2026:
May:
Michael( highest grossing film of the month and it came out on April 24th)
Devil Wears Prada 2 (Was right behind it and these two made up 420 million in sales)
Mandalorian and Grogu
Obsesion (This movie had some legs and just kept getting ticket sales)
Backrooms
The Sheep Detective
Mortal Kombat 2
June:
Toy Story 5 (Will clear over $320 million this month)
Scary Movie
Disclosure Day (these two with Backrooms and Obsession were all neck and neck and made up $420 million in sales between the four films in June)
MOTU
Super girl
Jackass
The Death of Robin Hood (Sadly all four of these bombed)
I know movies are up to taste, but they both look like great months for movies.
No, I'm not confused because I disagree with your take. I just... disagree.
The point at hand, no one said that theatres have recovered from COVID, just that May 2026 was the best May SINCE COVID. The pandemic fundamentally messed with theatres (as you'd expect it to) and the confluence of that and streaming has put the industry in a hole...
... but my point is that it's a hole that is being climbed out of.
"Fluke" is a lazy way to think about it.
WHY was May so much better than April or June? Let's think about that.
It can't be summer... end of term projects and exam preps were in full swing in May. You'd think that would put a damper on teenagers going to the movies. And yet...
So now we need to ask ourselves why that didn't happen... and why attendance is dipping now that teens do have the summer off.
And the most obvious answer is that May simply had more movies audiences- specifically younger audiences- wanted to see.
This isn't rocket science. The movies saw increased attendance when the offerings were more palatable to the general audience. More at 11.
Here is the crux at what I'm getting at...
These months are not equivalent "great months for movies." Maybe you think so. Maybe I think so (I actually saw more movies in June than May myself). But you and I and everyone else in the nerdsphere needs to understand that our tastes are no longer what the general audience wants, and more importantly? Our tastes are not what's appealing to younger crowds.
I mean last year Thunderbolts and Fantastic Four both struggled to gain traction and Superman "only" made ~$600 million. Nerds declared theatres dead... despite the new Jurassic World and Minecraft movies flirting with a billion.
We need to accept that toy franchise movies and comic book stuff- which were big business- are no longer appealing to the younger crowds who have traditionally made up the backbone of theatre revenue.
That doesn't mean theatres are dying- it means audiences these days want movies different from what Hollywood's been training itself on since the mid 2000s.
Let's look at May.
Backrooms, Obsession, TDWP 2, and Michael were the big hits. Star Wars M&G struggled. MK2 was a popcorn fart and went and left with no impact.
Now June.
Toy Story 5 was a huge hit. Scary Movie was a huge hit relative to its budget.
Disclosure Day may very well get to Backrooms and Obsession's numbers, but it was also far more expensive to make than either of May's horror successes.
MotU, Jackass, and Supergirl? Bombs.
Death of Robin Hood bombing makes me sad, but it's expected... it's the type of movie I love but always seems to underperform.
So what can we take from the last two months? Pretty much what I've been saying.
Nerdsphere movies aren't drawing in audiences. Star Wars M&G, Supergirl, MotU, MK2? Bomb. Jackass? Bomb.
Basically us Gen Xers and Millennials have to reckon that what WE tend to like isn't what's driving ticket sales anymore. Hollywood's struggles is that they're slow to recognizing that.
It's not that people don't want to go to theatres, there's hard data to suggest they do show up... just not for superhero fare and toy franchise movies.
Indy horror is clearly in right now, but it's not that simple. Scary Movie is a horror spoof. Michael and TDWP2 both doing well despite one being a sequel to a classic from years ago and the other being a sincere biopic.
What's doing WELL isn't as easy to define, but what's doing poorly is clear as day- nerd genre fiction isn't it, not anymore.
And nerds' inability to separate that from a broader analysis of theatres and movies is what's grating to me. I'm sorry MotU and Supergirl bombed. I liked both well enough... but them not doing well isn't an indictment on movie theatres... it's an indictment on those types of movies, and nothing more.
I showed you data that shows that they didn't climb out of the hole, and they are just holding up May as this big comeback because it's great for AMC advertising and stock prices.
I hope that they do get back to pre-covid levels, as I am not rooting for the theaters to fail. I just don't believe that people are going to them like they used to. We can argue why all day. Bad films, bad economy, more options, shorter delay windows, people not watching as many films, etc.
We have shown that theaters pre-covid didn't have these dips that we have this year. Now regardless of whether that is due to film quality or people just not wanting to go to the theaters anymore, people aren't going to the theater like they did pre-covid.
Also, just in case you are wondering about the difference between May and June here:
May 2026: $1,063,329,638
June 2026: $1,023,591,757
Not that much of a difference month to month, especially when you add another $25 million to June for the next two days of Toy Story 5. Pre-covid, June would always be a bigger month than May, as all the tent pole films that came out in May would still be raking in money in June, and June would get more movies released to keep people flowing into the theaters. I used to follow this stuff way too much playing the Movie Draft back on the cord killers website.
I am not disagreeing with you on any of that. I am just saying that they haven't recovered to Pre-Covid levels.
Not disagreeing with you there either.
Not disagreeing here but let's be honest, DC has always struggled with their movies in the box office compared to the MCU. It took over two dozen MCU films before the public started to go sour on them. DC had like four successful films? (Man of Steel, BvsS, Wonder woman, and Justice League) And when they stopped making money, they rebooted the universe. We see how well that is going for them.
I will say, I was surprised on how poorly Mandalorian did. Maybe if the film had come out sooner without such a long gap, or maybe that last season really did hurt the franchise that badly. Or maybe people just don't want to go see a Disney Star Wars film. Regardless, it will kill on Disney+.
Scary movie also has a lot to do with the Wayans finally coming back to the franchise after it was ripped away from them.
You say this, but watch when Spiderman comes out in a month, or Doomsday get released this Holiday season. No way those are bombing. Time will tell though, and I am prepared to eat crow on this, but I don't think it likely.
Spider-Man NWH was a huge hit fuelled by nostalgia and that nostalgia is what I'm guessing will drive Doomsday. As for BND? I expect that Spider-Man and Batman will continue to be cash cows for Marvel and DC. Just as they always have been.
But the days of Marvel just throwing up any random IP and expecting it to print money are long gone.
People were pointing out the Marvel formula for years leading up to Infinity War and Endgame, but it didn't matter because there was genuinely hype around the MCU when the genre was at its peak. Endgame was the perfect exit point for all the casual who aren't obsessed with comic book stuff but enjoyed the MCU. Since then the only hits have been Spider-Man, nostalgiafests, and Spider-Man nostalgiafests. There's a reason Doomsday is dragging RDJ and Chris Evans and the Fox X-Men back instead of centring it around the post-Endgame roster. No one cares.
They just missed the mark. Baby Yoda fever was everywhere for a while and then BoBF and season 3 of the Mandalorian underwhelmed. M&G as a movie just hit too late for people to care.
I don't think Disney Star Wars is a problem though. I think that's basement dwelling incel nerds simply being the loudest voices.
But as for Disney+... who knows? Maybe M&G's paltry box office is worthwhile for Disney after all? Maybe it'll lap whatever it does on Disney+. After all... Disney told one of their Disney+ showrunners that they were pivoting back to theatres because streaming wasn't the cash cow theatre replacement everyone thought it was.
No you haven't. You've shown that modern numbers are still low compared to pre-COVID numbers... which ... well... duh. I never said they weren't.
What I'm saying is that there is absolutely progress in climbing out of the hole. Let's look at June 2020 numbers in the midst of the pandemic. Then 2021. 2022. 2023. 2024. 2025. 2026. The trend is undoubtedly positive.
I never said they had. I said they were climbing out of the hole. Not once did I say they'd recovered to pre-COVID levels, just that numbers were trending in that direction. Which itself counters the narrative that theatres are dying.
Nothing's changed except Hollywood not getting the memo on what the tentpoles should be. If you look at box office returns and review scores, they really should have released MotU and Supergirl in May, and saved Backrooms and Obsession for June. Those movies far exceeded expectations in May, when teenagers are still dealing with end of term projects and exam prep. Imagine them released in the first month of summer.
All that happened was Hollywood miscalculating which of their upcoming projects were the hits in waiting.
Well I'm glad... but to drive my point home...
Nerds struck gold in the 2000s when nerd properties became hot. Suddenly it was cool to be a nerd. Entire YouTube and social media ecosystems sprung up to explain to normies the backstory of all of these comic book and toy franchises that were blowing up the box office. Long time nerds felt vindicated. Newer nerds bought in hard.
Now? Everyone's just in a bit of denial.
"No one's going to movies anymore."
If that was true, you wouldn't have hits like Jurassic World Rebirth, Minecraft, the Sonic and Super Mario movies, Backrooms, Obsession, Scary Movie, Toy Story 5, TDWP 2, and Michael.
We as nerds have been eating well for 20 years and it's time to admit the buffet may be closing. And we need to stop conflating the popularity of these genres with cinema as a whole. I'd have liked TFO, MotU, and Supergirl to do better but...
And given how oversaturated Marvel's influence on cinema has been the past twenty years... maybe nerd stuff taking a bit of a back seat isn't such a bad thing.
Some of my general thoughts on this, looking at BOM data, and I think there’s some nits being picked that are all part of more complex issues:
The general theatrical film industry is still not as robust as it was pre-COVID. The broad numbers justify that, as well as the drastically reduced film slate. Pre-Covid, any film rerelease was typically EXCEPTIONALLY rare, usually for highly regarded film or culturally relevant films’ major anniversaries. This year, The Revenant saw a rerelease for its 10th Anniversary. Madagascar and Shrek were rereleased for…some reason. Major hits are still viable…but we’re also seeing films get even more front-loaded because audiences now know home viewing/streaming releases are much sooner than they were. It seems increasingly common for films (barring your breakout hits like Backrooms) to see week to week drops of 60-70%.
Streaming has changed people’s expectations for what they’re willing to go out and see. We still see the “big tentpoles” and horror (because horror is generally cheap and one decent weekend can practically pay for a film’s budget), but we’ve also seen the death of the mid-tier drama and action/thriller. Movies like The Drama, Normal or Disclosure Day (or even Death of Robin Hood) are relatively common on streaming services, so aside from the name recognition for Disclosure Day, there is far less pressing incentive to go out to the hassle and cost of theatres for those types of films these days.
I think that has also fed into a perception among studios about the nature of the viewing audience. Studios were once more competitive, are now far more cautious of competing with perceived mega hits. I’ll argue that Masters of the Universe would have probably done FAR better being released in late April/Early May where it would have offered a meaningful “counter program” to Michael and Devil Wears Prada 2. Instead, everybody ceded April and a solid chunk of May to Super Mario Galaxy.
That said, people will still go out for revered franchises and legit GOOD movies. Obsession and Backrooms are seeing their amazing holdovers because they are GOOD movies. This past spring is littered with mediocre horror films that came and went like The Passenger, Faces of Death, Exit 8, and Undertone. Toy Story is going to see great holdover because it’s a GOOD movie AND a revered film franchise that hasn’t been over-exposed like Star Wars. Project Hail Mary had a fantastic run with only modest drop offs because it was a GOOD movie with a novel hook without meaningful competition in the older audience market.
In terms of Supergirl, I feel superhero fatigue is a valid issue, as is issues raised by the film’s response and audiences. I think critics and audiences are..less forgiving…of issues in these sorts of films these days, without a unique hook to them. Supergirl is a decent films in a bloated genre to which there remains a LOT of recent content to consume.
Then again, maybe it was just a poor decision to plop the film in between two of the biggest family animated films of the year instead of finding another spot for it might not have been the wisest idea. (July, in general, is pretty stacked so we’ll see how the numbers go). I’d argue August or early May might have been better options.
The general theatrical film industry is still not as robust as it was pre-COVID. The broad numbers justify that, as well as the drastically reduced film slate. Pre-Covid, any film rerelease was typically EXCEPTIONALLY rare, usually for highly regarded film or culturally relevant films’ major anniversaries. This year, The Revenant saw a rerelease for its 10th Anniversary. Madagascar and Shrek were rereleased for…some reason. Major hits are still viable…but we’re also seeing films get even more front-loaded because audiences now know home viewing/streaming releases are much sooner than they were. It seems increasingly common for films (barring your breakout hits like Backrooms) to see week to week drops of 60-70%.
Streaming has changed people’s expectations for what they’re willing to go out and see. We still see the “big tentpoles” and horror (because horror is generally cheap and one decent weekend can practically pay for a film’s budget), but we’ve also seen the death of the mid-tier drama and action/thriller. Movies like The Drama, Normal or Disclosure Day (or even Death of Robin Hood) are relatively common on streaming services, so aside from the name recognition for Disclosure Day, there is far less pressing incentive to go out to the hassle and cost of theatres for those types of films these days.
I think that has also fed into a perception among studios about the nature of the viewing audience. Studios were once more competitive, are now far more cautious of competing with perceived mega hits. I’ll argue that Masters of the Universe would have probably done FAR better being released in late April/Early May where it would have offered a meaningful “counter program” to Michael and Devil Wears Prada 2. Instead, everybody ceded April and a solid chunk of May to Super Mario Galaxy.
That said, people will still go out for revered franchises and legit GOOD movies. Obsession and Backrooms are seeing their amazing holdovers because they are GOOD movies. This past spring is littered with mediocre horror films that came and went like The Passenger, Faces of Death, Exit 8, and Undertone. Toy Story is going to see great holdover because it’s a GOOD movie AND a revered film franchise that hasn’t been over-exposed like Star Wars. Project Hail Mary had a fantastic run with only modest drop offs because it was a GOOD movie with a novel hook without meaningful competition in the older audience market.
In terms of Supergirl, I feel superhero fatigue is a valid issue, as is issues raised by the film’s response and audiences. I think critics and audiences are..less forgiving…of issues in these sorts of films these days, without a unique hook to them. Supergirl is a decent films in a bloated genre to which there remains a LOT of recent content to consume.
Then again, maybe it was just a poor decision to plop the film in between two of the biggest family animated films of the year instead of finding another spot for it might not have been the wisest idea. (July, in general, is pretty stacked so we’ll see how the numbers go). I’d argue August or early May might have been better options.
ALL of my rambling said…I can’t help but wonder how important these major tentpole films are in relation to long term franchises. With fractured viewing audiences…I sometimes wonder if the point of films like Mandalorian and Supergirl aren’t just to make money…but as a marketing vehicle in and unto themselves.
A new season of The Mandalorian alone probably isn’t going to get people who haven’t caught up to watch it. But a movie? Suddenly you have a whole new wave of news coverage, exposure that will reach people who haven’t watched the show since season 1. Because of that attention, you have assorted licensees coming out of the woodwork on the hope it will be the next big thing. Hasbro relaunched their kids toy range in a new style in support of this film. Nabisco made “alien blue milk” vanilla wafers. Streaming numbers may have increased for people who want to rewatch or catch up.
Heck, Denny’s sure as heck paid for the chance to use Masters of the Universe in marketing some new food.
Supergirl is in a similar boat: It may end up a disappointing theatrical release, but it will probably do fine on home purchase/streaming. WB gets a cut of the McFarlane toy range. And I’ve even seen a noticeable uptick in YouTube ads for the original Graphic Novel from which this film was derived. I know I just bought Woman of Tomorrow on iBooks because of this film. That all adds up.
A new season of The Mandalorian alone probably isn’t going to get people who haven’t caught up to watch it. But a movie? Suddenly you have a whole new wave of news coverage, exposure that will reach people who haven’t watched the show since season 1. Because of that attention, you have assorted licensees coming out of the woodwork on the hope it will be the next big thing. Hasbro relaunched their kids toy range in a new style in support of this film. Nabisco made “alien blue milk” vanilla wafers. Streaming numbers may have increased for people who want to rewatch or catch up.
Heck, Denny’s sure as heck paid for the chance to use Masters of the Universe in marketing some new food.
Supergirl is in a similar boat: It may end up a disappointing theatrical release, but it will probably do fine on home purchase/streaming. WB gets a cut of the McFarlane toy range. And I’ve even seen a noticeable uptick in YouTube ads for the original Graphic Novel from which this film was derived. I know I just bought Woman of Tomorrow on iBooks because of this film. That all adds up.
We’re trying to justify why Supergirl (part of this new Superman character family) just bombed at the box office!
I'd argue another reason Supergirl bombed is because they took a colourful and interesting looking comic story- Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow- and turned it into a drab, generic looking release.
I'm a huge fan of the source comic for this movie, and I actually think the story itself was adapted pretty solidly. A 1:1 adaptation was never going to happen and I thought they did a good job with streamlining it into a theatrically viable narrative.
They just massively fumbled the look of a thing. You can have the best story possible, but it doesn't matter if the movie doesn't look intriguing for audiences. And they took a colourful, interesting looking neo-fantasy adventure and turned it into a generic desaturated looking slog.
The movie just looks dull and uninteresting compared to the visuals of the source material.
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I just want to put it out there that I wasn't a huge fan of their choice for the lead actress. I haven't seen the film, but I have seen her in other things and I wasn't enthused for her in this role. Maybe other people felt the same.
This is going to sound like a weird take, but you know what I think might have helped the movie? Streaky the Super-Cat.
I know you're all looking at me like I'm crazy, right now. But, I feel like one of the reasons that Superman was as successful as it was is because of how prominent Krypto was in the marketing. Cute dogs sell tickets! Having that same cute dog being hurt throughout most of the movie? Not a good idea, most people don't want to watch a dog get hurt. So, if they had a cute cat in the marketing leading up to the movie? One that...wasn't wounded throughout most of the movie? That probably would have sold a few more tickets. And maybe some plushies.
And, yeah, there's a ton of other things working against the movie. People have been complaining about superhero fatigue for...going on two decades, now. It's just that now they actually mean it. It's a female-led movie, so it is going to have somewhat of a uphill battle in the first place. People are waiting for streaming more and more. All true.
But, I think another problem might be the expectations for this character? I don't think most people generally think of Supergirl as a "angry" character. That's not usually the way she's depicted in most animated or live action depictions of the character. It HAS been something they've been pushing in the comics for the while. Supergirl has definite anger issues in the comics, and it's been pretty consistent almost since her big comeback in the 2000s. But, she's a lot nicer in most other depictions, outside the comics. The CW version of the character had a lot of soap opera moments, but she was still pretty optimistic, overall. The My Adventures With Superman version is definitely closer to being a "Angry Supergirl", but she's also has a lot of charming "stranger in a strange land" moments, and the overall tone of that show is a lot more light which compensates for that. So, going for a "Punk Rock Supergirl", might just feel a little off the mark, for a lot of people. Being edgy, for the sake of being edgy.
There's also the choice of source material. I'll admit...I don't care for Tom King. I find him one note, and I find that I just don't enjoy reading his work. It always makes me annoyed with him, and his choices, and his relentless pessimism in areas that don't feel entirely necessary. But, I'll admit, that's mostly a ME problem. He's a solid writer, I just don't care for his style. I don't know what other story you would choose for Supergirl, if you insisted upon doing a Supergirl movie, though.
I like Peter David's run better, but...you ain't doing a "alternate-dimension blob-monster-shapeshifter merging with a suicidal girl to become a angel" story in a movie. And I do like the current run of the comic, but it is going for more of a Silver Age-throwback feel, so I don't know if something like that would have worked, either. I liked Cosmic Adventures in the 8th Grade, but that might have made Supergirl a little too young. They likely chose to do this movie, because they were fans of the graphic novel. If it wasn't for the graphic novel, they probably wouldn't have done a Supergirl movie in the first place.
And that's another thing, it's just kind of STRANGE that the first 3 movies in this new universe are all Superman-focused? I don't hate that. I like Superman and his extended family. But, it's a weird move fast-tracking 3 Superman movies so quickly. It's a interesting experiment, doing a deep dive into one character for a few years, but I don't think it's paying off. It does feel like it'd just get old really fast, and maybe the general audience is already sick of it. I guess we'll see how Man of Tomorrow does next year.
As for too many "nerdosphere" movies being some of the fault of theaters underperforming? Yeah, I tend to agree with that. (Although....does Jackass count as a "nerdosphere" movie? That's almost a nostalgia movie at this point. Does anyone under 30 even remember Jackass?) Spider-Man BND will probably be fine, because it's Spider-Man. But, part of me worries that Avengers Doomsday is just too big to actually succeed. The only real marketing the movie is doing is listing off how many more characters they're adding to this already bloated cast. If Doomsday doesn't crack a Billion dollars, it's probably not going to make money, just due to how many celebrities are showing up.
It does seem like Video Game movies and Horror movies are what the audience wants, right now. And I wouldn't be surprised if we start to see a shift. But, Disney JUST got the X-Men back, so they probably still want to try to make X-Men 16. It's going to be a slow shift, because once you shut down the marketing machine on superhero movies, it's going to be hard if not impossible to start it back up again. I don't know how that's going to go, but we'll see.
I don't think movie theaters will ever completely go away. But, I do think they'll end up being more like Broadway shows, or live action plays. They're around, but not as much of a major part of society as a whole. A sometimes thing. Something you go to ONCE, in a bigger city, just for the experience. But, that might be decades away. I don't know, I could be wrong about that, though. I don't have any numbers to back that up. I just feel that's where this is all going, eventually.
I know you're all looking at me like I'm crazy, right now. But, I feel like one of the reasons that Superman was as successful as it was is because of how prominent Krypto was in the marketing. Cute dogs sell tickets! Having that same cute dog being hurt throughout most of the movie? Not a good idea, most people don't want to watch a dog get hurt. So, if they had a cute cat in the marketing leading up to the movie? One that...wasn't wounded throughout most of the movie? That probably would have sold a few more tickets. And maybe some plushies.
And, yeah, there's a ton of other things working against the movie. People have been complaining about superhero fatigue for...going on two decades, now. It's just that now they actually mean it. It's a female-led movie, so it is going to have somewhat of a uphill battle in the first place. People are waiting for streaming more and more. All true.
But, I think another problem might be the expectations for this character? I don't think most people generally think of Supergirl as a "angry" character. That's not usually the way she's depicted in most animated or live action depictions of the character. It HAS been something they've been pushing in the comics for the while. Supergirl has definite anger issues in the comics, and it's been pretty consistent almost since her big comeback in the 2000s. But, she's a lot nicer in most other depictions, outside the comics. The CW version of the character had a lot of soap opera moments, but she was still pretty optimistic, overall. The My Adventures With Superman version is definitely closer to being a "Angry Supergirl", but she's also has a lot of charming "stranger in a strange land" moments, and the overall tone of that show is a lot more light which compensates for that. So, going for a "Punk Rock Supergirl", might just feel a little off the mark, for a lot of people. Being edgy, for the sake of being edgy.
There's also the choice of source material. I'll admit...I don't care for Tom King. I find him one note, and I find that I just don't enjoy reading his work. It always makes me annoyed with him, and his choices, and his relentless pessimism in areas that don't feel entirely necessary. But, I'll admit, that's mostly a ME problem. He's a solid writer, I just don't care for his style. I don't know what other story you would choose for Supergirl, if you insisted upon doing a Supergirl movie, though.
I like Peter David's run better, but...you ain't doing a "alternate-dimension blob-monster-shapeshifter merging with a suicidal girl to become a angel" story in a movie. And I do like the current run of the comic, but it is going for more of a Silver Age-throwback feel, so I don't know if something like that would have worked, either. I liked Cosmic Adventures in the 8th Grade, but that might have made Supergirl a little too young. They likely chose to do this movie, because they were fans of the graphic novel. If it wasn't for the graphic novel, they probably wouldn't have done a Supergirl movie in the first place.
And that's another thing, it's just kind of STRANGE that the first 3 movies in this new universe are all Superman-focused? I don't hate that. I like Superman and his extended family. But, it's a weird move fast-tracking 3 Superman movies so quickly. It's a interesting experiment, doing a deep dive into one character for a few years, but I don't think it's paying off. It does feel like it'd just get old really fast, and maybe the general audience is already sick of it. I guess we'll see how Man of Tomorrow does next year.
As for too many "nerdosphere" movies being some of the fault of theaters underperforming? Yeah, I tend to agree with that. (Although....does Jackass count as a "nerdosphere" movie? That's almost a nostalgia movie at this point. Does anyone under 30 even remember Jackass?) Spider-Man BND will probably be fine, because it's Spider-Man. But, part of me worries that Avengers Doomsday is just too big to actually succeed. The only real marketing the movie is doing is listing off how many more characters they're adding to this already bloated cast. If Doomsday doesn't crack a Billion dollars, it's probably not going to make money, just due to how many celebrities are showing up.
It does seem like Video Game movies and Horror movies are what the audience wants, right now. And I wouldn't be surprised if we start to see a shift. But, Disney JUST got the X-Men back, so they probably still want to try to make X-Men 16. It's going to be a slow shift, because once you shut down the marketing machine on superhero movies, it's going to be hard if not impossible to start it back up again. I don't know how that's going to go, but we'll see.
I don't think movie theaters will ever completely go away. But, I do think they'll end up being more like Broadway shows, or live action plays. They're around, but not as much of a major part of society as a whole. A sometimes thing. Something you go to ONCE, in a bigger city, just for the experience. But, that might be decades away. I don't know, I could be wrong about that, though. I don't have any numbers to back that up. I just feel that's where this is all going, eventually.
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No, but it appeals to the same crowd- Gen Xers and Millennials.
But what we're into just isn't what kids are into today. And not only that... but what they seem to be into seems all around cheaper to make.
I feel like I'm coming at this from the complete opposite angle. I like Tom King a whole lot and really like Woman of Tomorrow.
IMO the only real templates for a mass market Supergirl movie are either the 2005 run which basically updated her classic intro for modern audiences or Woman of Tomorrow which isn't an origin, but is a very self contained but solid outing with stunning visuals and very good thematic elements.
The current run of Supergirl is also very good, but it's so self-referential to the Silver Age stuff that I feel like you need to see Kara in more stuff cinematically before you start going to the places the current comic run is going. And yeah, the 90s "Not Really Supergirl But a Shapeshifting Science Experiment Angel" isn't going to be it either.
Honestly, Woman of Tomorrow was a solid choice... the problem is they stripped away half of what made it interesting. Trading in a colourful fantasy-inspired story to shoot on grungy brown desaturated sets that look like they came from the CW is not the best move.
Part of me feels some of the issue is that its a bit 'too soon' for a Supergirl movie. We just had Superman, and outside of animation there's been no other DC projects in this universe. Going straight to Supergirl, even if its a sorta Space Opera, in a way feels like "more of the same" This needed to be like a 4th movie and not a Second. Put a few other heroes out there first.
One? I'm pretty sure that the next film in this universe is the Clayface movie that's supposed to be coming later this year.
Two...I think that might just be a consequence of how things have rolled out. The first Superman film was popular - it didn't sell lots of tickets, but word of mouth was very good and people can generally say that it was a very good movie that, a few details aside, is very true to the mythos. The Supergirl film had already been in the pipeline, was ready to go, so why not put it out? And a direct sequel to Superman seems like a no-brainer given the relative success of the first. I'd argue that it was simply bad luck that we don't have a movie ready to go for Batman and/or Wonder Woman...and let's be honest, having movies ready to go for them is very much an uphill battle. Batman especially.
That's been DC's problem this whole time. They don't want planning and buildup. Only payoff.
Well the problem with Batman is they greenlit a Batman franchise that's totally disconnected from this shared universe. So you really can't tell a DCU Batman story while also telling Matt Reeves' Batman story.
Oh, yeah. I forgot about Clayface. Fine, 3 out of the first 4 movies of this new universe are all Superman-related. That's still weird to me. (Also, just that they're making a Clayface movie when the second JOKER movie under-performed for them. Do they really think Clayface is going to have a bigger draw than Joker? These are the kind of decisions that get us a Morbius movie. But, that might be a different discussion. )
And...well, Batman's in a odd place. We are getting another Matt Reeves Batman movie next year. But, it sounds like Matt Reeves is being a bit persnickety and doesn't want HIS Batman to be the Batman for this new shared universe. So, they were talking about having a different Batman for this new universe. But, then there's a the question of if Batman is big enough to sustain TWO separate movie franchises running at the same time. It's Batman, so probably. But, still, that's a lot of Batmans.
Honestly, it kind of comes across that WB really doesn't wan to commit to anything. And they're in the middle of getting purchased by another corporation, anyway, which is just adding to the confusion. It's possible that whatever acquisition does or doesn't happen will completely change everyone's plans, anyway.
I'm still not sure why they cant just fold the Reeves movies into this universe...