Fans have been rebelling against DC in their numbers ever since the Justice League debacle kicked off a campaign of resentment and backlash that’s been ongoing for the last have a decade, and it’s become clear that even the staunchest comic book supporters weren’t interested in opening their wallets to pay for a ticket to DC League of Super-Pets.
While the animated feature boasting a star-studded cast voicing a raft of recognizable superheroes and their associated animal sidekicks has comfortably topped the domestic box office with an estimated $23 million bow, that’s a lot lower than anyone expected from a broad, family-friendly flick featuring Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, John Krasinski, Keanu Reeves, and many more besides.
Not only that, but if you discount Wonder Woman 1984‘s opening weekend (which is fair enough when the theatrical industry was crippled by the pandemic and the sequel released simultaneously on HBO Max), then League of Super-Pets has scored one of the worst first frames for a DC adaptation to release this century.
Jonah Hex‘s $5.7 million, The Losers‘ $9.4 million, Teen Titans GO! To the Movies‘ $10.4 million, and Catwoman‘s $16.7 million are the only theatrically exclusive titles from the comic book outfit to have brought in less money across their first three days in theaters. Ouch.
Even the R-rated The Suicide Squad managed to haul in $26 million last summer when business was still on its knees in the age of COVID, while Super-Pets has also opened lower than Vertigo’s V for Vendetta, which conjured $25 million back in March of 2006. That doesn’t make for encouraging reading, but with a fairly modest $90 million budget, international audiences may be able to propel the warmly-reviewed superpowered story into the black.