Clayface opened in North American theaters this past weekend, earning $24 million in the process. Now, all eyes are on the DC Studios movie's second weekend to see whether positive word of mouth will boost ticket sales and turn the DCU body horror into an Obsession-sized hit.
After earning $2.2 million on Monday, Clayface grossed $3.3 million during Discount Tuesday, taking its domestic cume to a reported $29.7 million.
This is a better result than movies like Kraven the Hunter ($1.3 million) and Other Mommy ($2.9 million), but behind Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) ($3.4 million).
Clayface has surpassed $50 million worldwide. However, it's believed the movie will need to gross as much as two or three times that to break even and turn a modest profit. That's why Halloween weekend is so important for the third DCU feature.
Exhibitor Relations Co. recently addressed Clayface's opening weekend, explaining that a $46 million debut on a $44 million production budget is "not awful." However, the outlet's Jeff Bock then added, "[It] will need to stick around a while to see a cut of the profits."
"Thing is, [Warner Bros.] isn’t mining one of the world's biggest IP libraries simply to break even. It wants a piece of the pop-culture pie. Other Mommy, also R-rated original with zero built-in IP, opened higher: $27M domestic & now $95M worldwide, on a $19M budget. And it did that with a D+ CinemaScore."
"Clayface may eventually turn a box office profit," Bock continued. "But that still doesn’t mean choosing it as the DCU’s third feature was the right move. Cost containment is not cultural momentum. And that's what [Warner Bros.] thought it was getting [by] hiring James Gunn."
In Clayface, Matt Hagen’s meteoric rise from Gotham street kid to Hollywood leading man is tragically cut short when a local crime boss’s actions leave him horribly disfigured. Abandoned by his team and with nothing left, Matt seeks out a cutting-edge treatment that miraculously returns him to his former self, but also unexpectedly affects his grip on reality, spiralling him down a destructive path of all-consuming revenge.
The movie stars Tom Rhys Harries in the title role of the "cult-favourite" villain from Gotham's rogues' gallery. The cast includes Naomi Ackie, David Dencik, Max Minghella and Eddie Marsan, as well as Nancy Carroll and Joshua James.
We concluded our Clayface review by saying, "Tom Rhys Harries shines in Clayface, an uninspired and unoriginal movie that's too light on horror and lacking in comic book personality to be anything but forgettable. It should have been a game-changer for the genre; instead, it's DC's Morbius moment."
Directed by James Watkins from a screenplay by Mike Flanagan and Hossein Amini, Clayface is now playing in theaters.