Don’t Buy Into the “Supergirl #1 on HBO Max” Victory Lap

Hollywood is doing what it always does after a flop. It points at a streaming chart and calls it a win. A lot of foreign Twitter accounts are cheering like Supergirl just saved DC. It did not. The movie hit HBO Max on September 10. Then the chart watchers showed up. FlixPatrol put it at number one on the U.S. movie list. Some days it led the worldwide movie list too. Calling that redemption thoug is quite a stretch. A new studio title almost always spikes on the studio’s own streamer in week one. The real numbers from theaters still matter. Supergirl opened June 26 and finished at $126.4 million worldwide. The production budget sat between $170 million and $186 million before marketing costs. Variety reported a loss in the $100M to $120M range. Deadline put the hit even higher. DC boss Peter Safran told The New York Times the film did not meet box office expectations. Critics gave it 53 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. Paying crowds handed it a B-minus CinemaScore. Last weekk’s streaming spike will never wipe that out. Chart position isn’t ticket sales. I’s not profit. It’s not proof that millions of new fans now love this Kara. Most people who skipped it in June still skipped it. A few...