Warner Bros. Discovery has confirmed the next stop for Craig Gillespie's Supergirl. The DC Studios film begins streaming exclusively on HBO Max worldwide on Thursday, September 10.
In the United States, its linear HBO premiere follows on Saturday, September 12 at 8 p.m. ET.
The movie opened in North America on June 26 after beginning its international rollout two days earlier.
Streaming arrives after a difficult theatrical run
The HBO Max date comes with an unusual amount of commercial context. Supergirl opened to approximately $37.1 million domestically and $62.6 million worldwide before finishing around $126 million globally.
DC Studios co-head Peter Safran has acknowledged that the film did not meet the company's box-office expectations while arguing that it remains one piece of a much broader long-term strategy for DC.
That makes the streaming phase more interesting than a routine catalog transfer.
The theatrical audience was smaller than Warner wanted. HBO Max now gives the same movie access to an entirely different pool of viewers.
This Kara was designed to stand apart from Superman
Milly Alcock's Kara Zor-El was introduced briefly in Superman before taking the lead here. Craig Gillespie directs from Ana Nogueira's screenplay, drawing heavily from Tom King and Bilquis Evely's Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow.
The distinction from her cousin is central. Clark Kent grew up on Earth and understands Krypton mostly through inheritance. Kara remembers it.
That difference produces a rougher, more volatile hero whose grief and anger sit much closer to the surface.
A cosmic revenge story rather than another Superman movie
The plot sends Kara across the galaxy with Ruthye, played by Eve Ridley, after Matthias Schoenaerts' Krem of the Yellow Hills kills Ruthye's father.
Krypto joins them, while Jason Momoa appears as Lobo. David Krumholtz and Emily Beecham play Kara's Kryptonian parents, with David Corenswet returning as Superman.
The film is the first live-action theatrical feature centered on Supergirl since the 1984 movie starring Helen Slater.
HBO Max is part of the DC release pipeline
For Warner, the move demonstrates the full value chain behind a modern studio release. A DC movie can generate theatrical revenue, move into premium digital availability and then become a high-profile HBO Max title inside the same corporate ecosystem.
That final stage matters especially when the first stage underperforms.
Supergirl could not turn Kara's first solo DCU movie into a major theatrical hit. On September 10, it gets another chance to build an audience without asking viewers to buy another ticket.
