{"id":656899,"date":"2026-10-25T19:12:12","date_gmt":"2026-10-25T19:12:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/656899\/"},"modified":"2026-10-25T19:12:12","modified_gmt":"2026-10-25T19:12:12","slug":"clayface-tops-the-box-office-with-24-million","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/656899\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Clayface’ Tops the Box Office With $24 Million"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cClayface<\/a>,\u201d a body-horror film<\/a> based on a little-known comic book, opened to $24 million, a middling result for DC Studios, which is in year two of its mixed-bag theatrical revival.<\/p>\n

On the one hand, the gross isn\u2019t bad considering that the title character is a niche player and the gory genre isn\u2019t associated with the spandex set. On the other, it\u2019s slightly below projections, which predicted that \u201cClayface\u201d would open to between $25 million to $30 million. It was enough to hold off the second weekend<\/a> of A24\u2019s \u201cYou Can See Everything,\u201d which earned $19.5 million. It also helps that \u201cClayface\u201d is cheaper than most comic book movies, carrying a price tag of $44 million. It may not be a profit-generating machine, but it won\u2019t lose money either.<\/p>\n

\"'You<\/a> \"Melissa<\/a> <\/p>\n

That wasn\u2019t the case with \u201cSupergirl,\u201d the previous film in the universe that James Gunn<\/a> and Peter Safran have been building since they took the reins at DC. \u201cSupergirl\u201d was a disaster, losing an estimated $80 million to $120 million<\/a>. It also received a critical drubbing. \u201cClayface\u201d fared better in that respect too. It stands at 75% \u201cfresh\u201d on Rotten Tomatoes compared to \u201cSupergirl\u2019s\u201d 52% \u201crotten\u201d rating. So far, last summer\u2019s \u201cSuperman,\u201d which Gunn wrote and directed, is the most successful example of their quippy, poppy approach. It earned $618.7 million globally and was widely embraced by critics. The company\u2019s streaming shows, which include \u201cLanterns\u201d and \u201cPeacemaker,\u201d have been better received. <\/p>\n

But nothing DC has produced under Gunn and Safran has come close to the box office<\/a> heights enjoyed by Christopher Nolan\u2019s \u201cThe Dark Knight\u201d trilogy, the first \u201cAquaman,\u201d or \u201cWonder Woman.\u201d Two of Nolan\u2019s \u201cDark Knight\u201d movies topped $1 billion, as did \u201cAquaman,\u201d while \u201cWonder Woman\u201d earned $823.9 million. When Gunn and Safran were enlisted to revitalize DC, the brand was struggling with consistency, with films like \u201cAquaman and the Lost Kingdom\u201d and \u201cThe Flash\u201d collapsing in spectacular fashion \u2014 they were little seen and little enjoyed. The product the pair has produced has improved on that low bar, even as DC\u2019s more recent efforts have yet to deliver the same gloriously demented pleasures of Gunn\u2019s \u201cGuardians of the Galaxy\u201d films. Safran, a veteran producer whose credits include \u201cThe Conjuring\u201d franchise, is seen as the business brains of the operation, while Gunn speaks comic book and is tasked with charting the creative vision. <\/p>\n

Looking ahead, DC will bring back some of its headliners. \u201cThe Batman: Part II\u201d will open in theaters in 2028, while Gunn will return to the world of Superman with next summer\u2019s \u201cMan of Tomorrow.\u201d Both films seem poised to connect with audiences. <\/p>\n

Ultimately, Gunn and Safran may just have the misfortune of leading a comic book empire at a time when audiences are getting much more selective about their costumed heroes. \u201cSpider-Man: Brand New Day\u201d is the highest-grossing film of the year, having earned $2.5 billion, but that film features one of the most iconic comic book characters in history. Likewise, \u201cAvengers: Doomsday\u201d is expected to be a blockbuster when it opens in December, but it boasts Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Evans returning to the MCU. Outside of those Tiffany brands, even Marvel, which DC so clearly wants to emulate, has struggled. The company\u2019s attempts to build up a new group of Avengers, such as \u201cThunderbolts,\u201d \u201cThe Fantastic Four: First Steps,\u201d \u201cThe Eternals,\u201d and \u201cThe Marvels,\u201d have been box office disappointments, if not outright bombs<\/a>. If the king of comic book universes is struggling, maybe it\u2019s wrong to hope for more from Gunn and Safran. In that kind of atmosphere, \u201cClayface\u201d may count as a win, modest though its victory may be.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cClayface,\u201d a body-horror film based on a little-known comic book, opened to $24 million, a middling result for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":656900,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[1239,10800,146,878,85,46,12959,397],"class_list":["post-656899","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-box-office","tag-clayface","tag-entertainment","tag-film","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-james-gunn","tag-movies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/656899","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=656899"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/656899\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/656900"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=656899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=656899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=656899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}