The actress behind the upcoming Supergirl film, Milly Alcock, has seen the movie’s box office projections collapse following a series of controversial comments made during the press tour. The film, which carries a total cost of roughly $245 million, needed to earn around $425 million worldwide just to break even. The first sign of trouble appeared in late March when Alcock spoke to Vanity Fair. In that interview, she remarked that society had become too comfortable with what she described as “ownership over women’s bodies.
” Notably, these comments were made before any public backlash had emerged and before audiences had even seen the film, leading many to interpret her remarks as preemptive. The situation escalated in May when Variety published a cover story on the actress. In that interview, she discussed her online critics, specifically mentioning one whose profile described him as a “Dad of four, Christian. ” She referred to the profile as “hilarious.
” The remark was widely seen as mocking a demographic—religious family men—that typically makes up a core part of the audience for family-oriented superhero films. The most damaging statement came when she said, “If you’re pissing the right kind of people off, you’re doing okay. ” This quote quickly went viral. Within a day, social media users began pointing out that dads and families are the primary ticket buyers for this type of movie, and that alienating them was a poor strategy.
According to projections cited in the commentary, tracking for the film’s domestic opening weekend had originally been set at $70 million. After the viral quote, that number slid to between $47 million and $65 million by mid-April. By the week before release, it had dropped again to $39 million. When the movie opened on June 26th, it earned $38 million domestically and $30 million internationally, for a global opening of just $68 million.
Analysts cited in the commentary estimate the film could lose Warner Brothers approximately $200 million. Additional controversy followed when Alcock was asked during a Pride Month interview whether her character’s sexuality was explored in the film. She responded that the movie is “not centered around a man” or “around love at all” and stated of the character, “She probably goes both ways. ” These comments were made without any apparent backing from the film’s script.
Despite the dismal opening, audience reception was notably better than critical reception. The film received a B- score from opening-night audiences and a 77% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, compared to a 56% critic score. Those who actually saw the movie generally liked it far more than the online discourse suggested. Commentators have drawn direct comparisons between this situation and the release of Disney’s Snow White 14 months earlier.
In that case, star Rachel Zegler publicly criticized the original story’s premise and engaged combatively with critics before the movie opened. Snow White opened to $43 million domestically against a budget of $250–270 million and was estimated to have lost around $170 million. Entertainment commentators characterized Alcock’s press tour as a fundamental failure of messaging. One outlet noted that she had one job—not to turn potential ticket buyers into enemies—and concluded she failed.
Another pointed out that the marketing window for a $200 million film was consumed by discussion of trolls and backlash rather than by selling the movie itself. CONTENT:
