After questionable remarks from star Milly Alcock, new tracking shows 'Supergirl' on track for $200M loss

If there's one thing that modern Hollywood specializes in, it's unforced errors.

Instead, those movies were financial disappointments, to one degree or another. All thanks to predictable mistakes from the entertainment industry. "The Marvels" came after Marvel Studios shot its brand in the foot by focusing too much on unpopular characters to check desired boxes. It flopped, dramatically. "The Mandalorian and Grogu" is set to lose Disney around $100 million because they degraded the Star Wars brand so successfully over the years. "Snow White" was another monumental flop after actress Rachel Zegler spent the entire press campaign undermining it. "Superman," while hardly a flop, disappointed at the box office after Gunn made bizarre comments about the film's supposed political message. Even though the film had no specific political focus.

Alcock, as a reminder, implied in a March interview that she'd been receiving criticism for being a woman starring as a...female superhero. Which makes little sense.

Apparently unaware that those remarks then proved she had, in fact, been referring to unknown male fans who supposedly criticized her for playing "Supergirl." But that wasn't the only odd statement she made during that portion of the press tour.

Alcock said much of the criticism came from those who said they were a "dad" or "Christian." Which apparently disqualifies them from having an opinion about a movie or casting decision. Or means that any comments are supposedly hypocritical.

"And it's from a lot of people whose profiles have no photo, who are burner accounts," Alcock said. "Or someone's name and then 'Dad of four, Christian,' which is hilarious to me."

Well, things have only gotten worse since. Much, much worse.

Taking the midway point of those numbers, an opening weekend of $45 million would be a monumental failure. Big-budget films typically bring in around 40-45% of their total gross in the first weekend. Particularly in the busy summer season where high-profile releases hit theaters each week. That implies a total domestic gross in the $100-108 million range. Even if it doubles that total in international markets, a $300 million total would mean around $200 million in losses for Warner Bros. and DC Studios.

"Supergirl" was likely never going to be a huge hit for DC. It's a character with little general fan interest, and Gunn failed to build buzz and momentum for his new version of an "expanded universe" in the DC Studios world with "Superman."

But they could have maximized fan interest and their return on investment with better story ideas, marketing and public relations. The film's trailer looked unoriginal and uninteresting. Alcock has little-to-no name recognition, and instead of building up a positive profile of herself and the movie, has come across as unlikable and divisive in the press tour.

This isn't rocket science. Don't alienate potential customers by unnecessarily making them the enemy. Don't make yourself the center of the story, when it should be the movie and its qualities. That can't guarantee financial success, but it won't hurt box office either. Instead, Alcock has done the opposite. She's made everything about her, her views and ideology. That's her choice, but she's then going to shoulder some of the blame when it fails. And boy oh boy, does this movie look like it's going to fail.