'Clayface' Slips to Second Place as 'You Can See Everything' Pulls Ahead

Halloween weekend is rarely a friendly time for new releases, and studios usually avoid scheduling big openings when the holiday lands on a Saturday. That makes the box office a strange place to watch in the days around October 31. For a horror-leaning title like ‘Clayface‘, though, the calendar might have seemed like an opportunity.

DC Studios’ R-rated body horror movie arrived with a lot to prove. The studio has had a rough run lately, and every new release is being treated as a referendum on its direction. Early signs were encouraging, but the second week has brought a more complicated picture.

On its second Friday, ‘Clayface’ placed No. 2 at the North American box office with $3.3 million from 3,478 theaters, according to Variety. It finished just behind A24’s documentary ‘You Can See Everything‘, which took in $3.56 million on its third Friday from 3,243 theaters. The horror film’s domestic total now stands at $36.9 million.

Rival estimates suggest ‘Clayface’ will add around $10.25 million by Sunday, while the documentary is expected to earn about $10.65 million. The doc’s cumulative North American total is $56.85 million since it opened on October 16. That’s a remarkable run for a nonfiction film, and it has outpaced a major superhero studio release for the top spot.

An estimated $10.25 million would represent a drop of about 57.3% from the film’s debut weekend, according to figures cited by Screen Rant. The film opened to $24 million domestically, which put it at the lower end of the studio’s expectations of $25 million to $35 million. It also collected $19 million overseas from 76 markets, for a global opening of $43 million.

That global figure came in below the $45 million to $55 million that Variety had projected going into the weekend. Early tracking suggested the film wasn’t well known, though those who were aware of it were unusually eager to buy tickets. Gitesh Pandya has suggested that, based on its current trajectory, the movie could finish with about $65 million domestically.

The second-weekend drop looks better when stacked against the studio’s recent history. ‘Superman’ fell 53.2% in its second frame, while ‘Supergirl’ dropped 76.8% and earned $8.6 million. On raw numbers, ‘Clayface’ is holding up better than ‘Supergirl’ this weekend, even though ‘Supergirl’ opened higher.

Budget matters too. The movie reportedly cost around $44 million, and Screen Rant estimates its break-even point at roughly $110 million. Through Wednesday, the film’s worldwide total sat at $52.9 million, which means it still has a way to go before it can be considered profitable. Halloween weekend is historically a slow stretch, so a modest holdover isn’t unexpected.

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

Reception has been a bright spot. The movie earned an A- CinemaScore, matching ‘The Batman’ and ‘Superman’, and it holds 76% from critics and a 94% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. James Gunn celebrated the results on Threads, writing that he was proud of the film.

Reviews have been more mixed than the audience data suggests. Some critics praised star Tom Rhys Harries for a vulnerable monster performance, while others, including one ComicBookMovie.com reviewer, found the film uninspired and too light on horror. That split could affect how word of mouth carries over the next few weeks.

‘Clayface’ is a body horror psychological thriller directed by James Watkins from a screenplay by Mike Flanagan and Hossein Amini. Harries plays Matt Hagen, a rising Hollywood actor who is horribly disfigured and volunteers for an experimental medical procedure that goes terribly wrong. Naomi Ackie, David Dencik, Max Minghella and Eddie Marsan co-star.

It’s DC Studios’ first foray into horror and is widely described as the darkest film from the James Gunn and Peter Safran era so far. The film premiered in Los Angeles on October 13 and opened in theaters on October 23. Matt Reeves is among the producers.

The performance of ‘You Can See Everything’ is part of what makes this weekend so unusual. Variety noted that the three-hour documentary earned nearly as much as a new comic-book adaptation in its second weekend and then surged again on a wider release. Its momentum has turned it into a cultural event on its own terms.

That kind of success can be hard to compete with, especially in a thin release slate. With few major openings this weekend, audience attention is concentrated, and the doc has captured a large share of it. ‘Clayface’ still has time to climb, but the competition is unusually tough.

The teaser trailer ‘YOU CAN SEE EVERYTHING,’ a documentary by Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim. Thirty-four days before she’s sent to prison, Elizabeth Holmes invites a skeptical film crew to document her every move. In theaters this October. https://t.co/LHRvYLXULH
— Film Updates (@FilmUpdates) September 7, 2026

The Sunday estimates will give a clearer picture of how the film finished its second weekend. After that, the question will be whether positive audience scores can translate into steady holds in the weeks ahead. For DC Studios, a respectable multiplier could help offset a softer start.