The Real Reason Franchise Movies Hit Roadblocks In 2026

Jul 01, 2026 - 16:14

0 1

The Real Reason Franchise Movies Hit Roadblocks In 2026

Published Jul 1, 2026, 8:30 AM EDT

Shawn S. Lealos is an entertainment writer who is a voting member of the Oklahoma Film Critics Circle. He has written for Screen Rant, CBR, ComicBook, The Direct, The Sportster, Chud, 411mania, Renegade Cinema, Yahoo Movies, and many more.

Shawn has a bachelor's degree in professional writing and a minor in film studies from the University of Oklahoma. He also has won numerous awards, including several Columbia Gold Circle Awards and an SPJ honor.

He also wrote Dollar Deal: The Story of the Stephen King Dollar Baby Filmmakers, the first official book about the Dollar Baby film program. Shawn is also currently writing his first fiction novel under a pen name, based in the fantasy genre.

To learn more, visit his website at shawnlealos.net.

It is starting to look like 2026 will go down as the year that massive franchise tentpole movies flopped at the box office. When breaking down the low box office totals of Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu, Masters of the Universe, and Supergirl, questions swirl around what went wrong. Each movie received knocks from critics for specific things, but none of those solely held the films down at the box office.

Each of these movies entered the year with high expectations. Disney expected the new Star Wars movie to bring in a crowd who hadn't seen a franchise movie on the big screen in years, while the TV show's popularity would help increase ticket sales. Supergirl followed up the 2025 hit Superman, and Warner Bros. wanted to see the franchise start to build into something bigger. Masters of the Universe was a film that the studio had high hopes for, but on a smaller scale than the other two.

However, none of those movies made what the studios wanted to see at the box office. Critical reviews were mixed, and audience reception varied. However, while that was part of the reason for the films' struggles, there was something bigger at hand here behind the scenes. These movies had competition that dragged them down, with two of them getting slammed by hugely successful 2026 movies no one could have seen coming.

Star Wars, Masters Of The Universe, And Supergirl All Flopped At The Box Office

Nicholas Galitzine as He-Man driving a flying vehicle on the IMAX poster for Masters of the Universe

Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu hit theaters on May 22, and it was expected to relaunch the Lucasfilm franchise on the big screen again after a long hiatus. The expectations were that the popular Disney+ series would add fans who wanted to see the duo on the big screen, but that just didn't happen. Instead, the movie opened with an $81 million domestic haul and currently sits at $327.7 million worldwide take on a $165 million budget. The audience did like it, with an 87% Rotten Tomatoes score, but critics were lukewarm at 60%.

After two successful animated series on Netflix, it seemed the time was right to bring Masters of the Universe back to the big screen. With a $170-$200 million budget, this movie was a colossal flop, only making $109.6 million worldwide since its June 5 release. It has only hit $62.2 million total domestically, which was less than the Star Wars opening weekend. This movie had an equally great Rotten Tomatoes audience score at 86%, and the critics were kinder, at 68%, but it didn't find its audience.

Supergirl was the most recent release that flopped at the box office. With a production budget of between $170-$186 million, it only made $37.1 million domestically in its opening weekend. It has moved up to $67.7 million worldwide, but it has a long climb if it wants to come anywhere close to its break-even numbers. It also doesn't help that the movie has a 55% Rotten Tomatoes score and only 76% from the audience. This isn't what Warner Bros. wanted to see from the DCU's second outing.

2026 Has Been Too Stacked For Bad Openings

What happened to these three franchise blockbusters was that there was too much competition for them to overcome a bad opening weekend. When they failed to bring in an audience when they opened, too much was coming to allow them to rebound. At the same time, there were three specific movies that contributed to their downfall. While audiences watched critics shrug their shoulders at the blockbusters, interest was high for two unexpected horror movies.

Obsession shocked the world. Released on May 15, this was a horror movie about a man who makes a wish for his crush to love only him, and it comes with terrifying results. It only opened with $17.1 million, but it picked up word of mouth. When Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu came out one week later, people were starting to talk more about this can't-miss horror movie. By Star Wars' second weekend, Obsession was officially a hit. It made $372.6 million worldwide, beating Star Wars at the box office.

What hurt Star Wars even more was that, on its second weekend, Backrooms hit theaters. There were high expectations for this horror movie based on a YouTube series, and the film surpassed all those predictions. Between Backrooms and Obsession, no one was talking about The Mandalorian and Grogu, and everyone was talking about crazed stalkers and creepypasta. Backrooms also beat out Star Wars, with a $330.8 million worldwide take.

Both of those movies were still going strong when Masters of the Universe came out. Instead of going to see He-Man in a very entertaining movie, fans were still flooding into the theaters for those two cult horror movies, while a horror comedy won the weekend with Scary Movie. With that competition and Disclosure Day coming the next weekend, Masters of the Universe had no chance.

Things are even bleaker for Supergirl. The movie is off to a terrible start, as lackluster reviews are mixed with a juggernaut at the theaters. The week before Supergirl came out, Toy Story 5 hit theaters and shattered records at Pixar. Fans are not tired of Toy Story, and this fifth installment sits at $594.0 million worldwide after just two weekends at the box office. Supergirl won't recover either. Minions & Monsters hits theaters this weekend, and those movies always make close to $1 billion, while fans will still be flooding in to see Toy Story 5 again.

The blockbusters are not innocent in their failure. Star Wars showed fans these characters on TV, so why should they pay to see them in theaters? Masters of the Universe was better than it had any right to be, but no one gave it a chance because it's a movie about He-Man. As for Supergirl, this was a darker superhero tale, and it seemed the optimism that fans saw in Superman was not as clear here, although the story was much deeper. However, when those items were mixed with the competition of 2026's movie slate, the three franchises had no chance.