‘Clayface’ Box Office Hit Fuels Talk of More Low-Budget DC Horror Movies After Gunn and Safran’s Exit

Superhero movies have spent years chasing bigger budgets, bigger casts and bigger spectacle, and the results haven’t always matched the price tags. DC Studios is a case study in the risk. ‘Superman’ earned $618 million worldwide against a $225 million budget, while ‘Supergirl’ grossed $126 million on a $170 million budget.

That uneven record made DC’s first venture into R-rated horror feel like a gamble. ‘Clayface‘, a body horror film built around one of Batman’s most unsettling villains, arrived with a reported budget of $40 million to $44 million, roughly a quarter of what ‘Supergirl’ cost.

Now that gamble is shaping the conversation about where DC goes next. James Gunn and Peter Safran were reportedly interested in producing more horror-inspired DC films with smaller budgets, according to The Hollywood Reporter, and ‘Clayface’ has just surpassed $109 million at the worldwide box office.

The film opened at No. 1 worldwide with $43 million, including roughly $24 million domestically and $19 million overseas. It held the global top spot for 2 consecutive weeks, a notable feat for an R-rated comic book movie.

After 3 weekends, the total stands at $109 million, made up of $56.6 million domestically and $52.4 million internationally across 76 markets. The second weekend dropped 57% in North America, but international business fell only 34.7%, and the film passed ‘The Substance’ as the highest-grossing body horror movie ever.

Estimators currently see a worldwide finish somewhere between $130 million and $150 million. That result came even as theaters pulled the film from more than 500 locations.

The answer depends on whom you ask and which math you use. Several outlets say the film has cleared its break-even point, since a common rule of thumb says a movie needs about 2.5 times its budget to break even, which puts the target between $100 million and $110 million. Others note that against a $44 million budget, the line sits closer to $110 million, so the movie is only now brushing against it.

Marketing costs aren’t included in the reported budget, and theaters keep a cut of every ticket, so the picture is murkier than a simple gross suggests. Still, the modest cost gives the film far more breathing room than DC’s costlier releases, and a projected finish above $130 million would leave it comfortably ahead of ‘Supergirl’.

Directed by James Watkins of ‘Speak No Evil’, the film follows Matt Hagen, played by Tom Rhys Harries, a rising Hollywood actor who is horribly disfigured after a run-in with a local crime boss. Desperate to keep his career alive, he volunteers for an experimental procedure that turns him into a walking mass of clay.

Mike Flanagan and Hossein Amini wrote the script, with Matt Reeves, Lynn Harris, Gunn and Safran producing. The cast also includes Naomi Ackie, David Dencik, Max Minghella and Eddie Marsan. Critics were generally positive, praising Harries’ performance and the practical body horror effects, though some took issue with the script and visual effects.

Watch the first trailer for #Clayface. The new DC horror film is in theaters October 23. https://t.co/gqrrtJSou5

— Rotten Tomatoes 🍅 (@RottenTomatoes) April 22, 2026

The Hollywood Reporter says Gunn and Safran had been enjoying the film’s modest success before their exit, and that there was even talk of more slimmed-down, spooky DC movies. The pitch is easy to understand: smaller budgets mean smaller risk, and ‘Clayface’ reached the global No. 1 spot 2 weeks in a row on a modest production bill.

DC Studios hasn’t confirmed any such plans, though the numbers give the studio room to greenlight more small-budget films built around Batman’s rogues’ gallery. Those hopes now rest with Jeremy Latcham, the Marvel veteran who takes over as president and chief creative officer on Dec. 1.

Gunn and Safran will stay involved on a few projects, including ‘Man of Tomorrow’, set for July 9, 2027, and ‘The Batman Part II’. Whether their horror-lite approach becomes a lasting model or a one-off experiment will be up to their successor.

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