Clayface Makes $3.5 Million in Previews as DC Eyes a $20 Million Weekend

Clayface made an estimated $3.5 million from Thursday previews, according to Deadline's numbers as reported by Murphy's Multiverse. DC Studios' body horror movie is now on track for an opening weekend of about $20 million to $25 million. That's a decent start for a movie that reportedly cost $44 million to make, and it's the first real test of whether DC Studios can sell a smaller, R-rated horror movie set in Gotham.

How does Clayface compare to other villain movies?

It lands near the bottom of the list, but the list is a little unfair. ComicBookMovie lined it up against other villain-led comic book movies. Birds of Prey made $4 million in previews in 2020, and Kraven the Hunter made just $2 million in 2024. Joker and the Venom movies all started above $8 million, but they also cost a lot more.

The bigger sting is closer to home. Supergirl, DC Studios' last movie, made $7.8 million in previews. So Clayface made less than half of that (though a Supergirl movie and an R-rated horror movie about a melting actor were never going to draw the same crowd).

Will Clayface win the weekend?

It probably will, but it might be close. A24's You Can See Everything, the Elizabeth Holmes documentary from Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim, opened to about $15.6 million in limited release. It's now expanding from 855 theaters to about 2,600 (TheWrap). It's tracking for around $18 million this weekend, and some think it could go higher. A documentary beating a DC movie would be wild (and honestly kind of great for movies).

Do people actually like Clayface?

So far, yes. Clayface is Certified Fresh at 76% on Rotten Tomatoes from 116 reviews, and its Popcornmeter audience score sits at 94%. Good word of mouth is exactly what a smaller horror movie needs to hold up past its first weekend, especially with Halloween coming up next Saturday and plenty of scary competition already in theaters.

James Watkins directed it from a script by Mike Flanagan and Hossein Amini. Tom Rhys Harries plays Matt Hagen, a struggling actor who gets shapeshifting powers after a cosmetic treatment goes very wrong.

My read is that $20 million and good reviews would be a fair result for a $44 million horror movie. It'll likely need $80 million to $100 million worldwide to break even, so the second weekend matters a lot more than this one. If you want the full tracking picture from earlier in the week, here's our opening weekend preview.

Header image is an official still from Clayface (DC Studios, Warner Bros. Pictures).