DC reportedly staged a Supergirl showdown: James Gunn’s cut vs Craig Gillespie’s — before a box office collapse
Supergirl’s fiercest fight is off-screen, as fresh production turmoil erupts and threatens to upstage the film.
Supergirl was built like a tentpole and then pushed out like a test balloon. Warner Bros. and DC Studios reportedly spent about $170 million making it and another $120 million telling us it existed. Opening weekend answered back with $38 million domestic and $68 million worldwide. The more interesting part, though, was happening behind closed doors long before tickets went on sale.
Two visions, one cape
Per The Hollywood Reporter, the biggest clash on Supergirl was not hero vs. villain. It was James Gunn vs. director Craig Gillespie over what the movie should be. After early test screenings underwhelmed, DC Studios did something studios almost never admit to: it commissioned its own competing cut of the film, separate from the director’s version.
"They were not creatively aligned is the polite way of describing things."
By late 2025, both the studio and Gillespie reportedly knew the film was not landing the way anyone hoped. DC brought in Jeremy Slater to help in post. The final battle sequence got reworked. Music choices turned into another tug-of-war. What should have been polishing became a full-on rebuild.
The bake-off cut to cut
DC eventually staged a side-by-side test of the two edits — the director’s cut vs. the studio’s. According to THR, Gillespie’s version ran longer and leaned harder into the villain, and it actually outscored the studio’s on a few specifics. But when the final cards were tallied, the studio cut squeaked out the overall win by two points. Not exactly decisive.
- Runtime: Gillespie’s cut was reportedly 11 minutes longer.
- Villain focus: More screen time for Krem (played by Matthias Schoenaerts).
- Scores: The director’s version tested better on pacing, music, and the villain.
- Overall: The studio cut won the bake-off by a narrow two-point margin with test audiences.
- Source material note: Gillespie chose not to read the 'Woman of Tomorrow' comic to shape his own visual take.
- Post-production triage: Jeremy Slater joined late; the climactic battle and music were reworked.
The release that felt like a compromise
After months of dueling edits, Supergirl finally hit theaters looking like exactly what it was: a negotiated middle ground. The box office is still chasing break-even, and the fan response has been split — another DC title carrying the baggage of what might have been if one vision had actually won the day.
Why this sounds familiar
If you got Justice League flashbacks, you are not alone. Both productions hit the same potholes: rough test screenings, shaken confidence, and a post-production rescue mission. The key difference is who held the scissors. With Justice League, Warner Bros. executives pushed Zack Snyder aside for a friendlier overhaul. With Supergirl, multiple reports say James Gunn — wearing his studio-chief hat — ended up overriding fellow director Gillespie to keep the new DC game plan intact. Different leaders, same battleground. The box office deja vu is not great either.
Meanwhile, Snyder has been teasing a theatrical run for his cut of Justice League — the kind of reminder that these arguments do not just disappear; they hang around for years.
So... was there a better movie in there?
Going by the test-card math, there was at least a different one. Would I watch Gillespie’s longer, more villain-forward version? Of course I would. How about you?