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DC’s Lower-Budget Body-Horror Experiment Gets Off to a Promising Start
DC Studios’ Clayface pulled in an estimated $3.5 million or more from Thursday preview screenings, as first reported by Deadline. Shows kicked off at 2 p.m. on Thursday ahead of the film’s Friday, Oct. 23 theatrical opening, and current tracking points to a domestic weekend somewhere in the $20 million to $25 million range.
The James Watkins-directed film marks Peter Safran and James Gunn’s first move into smaller-budget genre filmmaking under the DC banner, carrying a net production cost of roughly $44 million before marketing. Rather than tying into Batman’s world directly, the story centers on Matt Hagen, a fresh-faced Hollywood actor whose career and face are both destroyed after one very bad night, setting the stage for a grisly transformation. Mike Flanagan’s script is what got the project moving after it landed with Gunn and Safran in late 2024.
Those preview numbers put the film in good company on the horror side of the ledger. They land just under the $3.6 million Atomic Monster’s Other Mommy earned on its way to a $27.8 million opening, and well ahead of the $2 million previews for 2022’s Smile, which went on to a $22.6 million debut. Critics have been kind as well, with the film sitting at a Certified Fresh 76% on Rotten Tomatoes heading into the weekend.
The biggest obstacle may be A24’s documentary You Can See Everything, which expands to roughly 2,600 locations this weekend after a strong opening and midweek run. A No. 1 finish would hand the newly combined Paramount-Warner Bros. its second straight weekend win, following Street Fighter.
Director: James Watkins
Writer: Mike Flanagan
Cast: Tom Rhys Harries, Naomi Ackie, Eddie Marsan, Max Minghella
Producers: Peter Safran, James Gunn
Studio: DC Studios
Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures
Release: In theaters Oct. 23, 2026
Thursday Previews: $3.5M+ (estimated)
Source: Reporting and confirmation via Deadline.