It was fairly well known that filmmaker Craig Gillespie’s “Supergirl” film underwent a large number of test screenings after it was shot as the project was re-worked.
Now a new feature THR piece has gone into the behind-the-scenes problems on the film, which opened last week and bombed on arrival – grossing just $37.1 million in its debut.
They confirmed that in March, competing cuts from filmmaker Gillespie and from the studio were tested – Gillespie’s version running 11 minutes longer and resulting in more scenes with the villain Krem.
The studio and Gillespie reportedly had creative differences over the direction of the movie, which is partly why it never found its footing in post-production. Test scores, which are out of 100, reportedly hovered mostly in the 60s across multiple rounds spread over a few months.
The studio seemingly knew the movie wasn’t working as early as Fall last year and when underwhelming numbers arrived from a December test screening, they intervened and made their own.
Writer Jeremy Slater was reportedly brought in to help with the post-production process, writing scenes for a nine-day shoot of additional photography which included the climactic fight, which was reworked. The film was also originally going to end with a cover version of Cyndi Lauper’s “Girls Just Want to Have Fun”.
Turns out when both versions were screened, the studio one scored better but not by much, and both tested worse than earlier cuts. In any case, the studio made their choice and that was the final cut we got.
The result is a $170 million budgeted film that’s projected to drop as much as 70% this weekend and may not reach a $200 million gross worldwide. As one studio executive blunty tells the trade: “Gen Z does not care about superhero movies. That genre belongs to millennials.”
