DC’s Clayface has gotten off to a solid start at the box office, earning an estimated $3.5 million or more from Thursday previews. However, the R-rated horror movie still faces a serious challenger for the weekend’s top spot: Nathan Fielder’s A24 documentary You Can See Everything, which looks at disgraced Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes.
According to Deadline, Clayface is currently tracking toward a domestic opening weekend in the $20 million to $25 million range. If it reaches that target, it could give the newly combined Paramount-Warner Bros. its second consecutive No. 1 opener, following Street Fighter, which debuted with $31 million last weekend. But the box office race may be closer than those projections suggest. You Can See Everything opened to a strong $15.6 million last weekend on just 855 screens, and the documentary is expanding to approximately 2,600 locations this weekend. That wider release could give it the boost needed to challenge Clayface for first place.
How Does Clayface Compare to Other Horror and Comic Book Movies?
The Thursday preview figure puts Clayface in promising company. Deadline reports that the film outperformed Kraven the Hunter, which earned $2 million in previews before opening to a disappointing $11 million. It also came close to Birds of Prey, which collected $4 million in previews before launching with $33 million domestically. The horror comparisons are encouraging, too. Clayface earned nearly as much in previews as Other Mommy, which brought in $3.6 million before opening to $27.8 million. It also exceeded the $2 million preview totals for 2022’s Smile, which went on to earn $22.6 million during its opening weekend.
So, Clayface has a reasonable shot at reaching the lower end of its current projections. The bigger question is whether audiences will keep showing up after the initial wave of curiosity.
Directed by James Watkins (Speak No Evil), Clayface takes a different approach to the DC Universe, telling a standalone horror story about Matt Hagen, a Hollywood actor whose disfigurement leads him to undergo an experimental treatment with terrifying consequences. Tom Rhys Harries stars, with Naomi Ackie, Max Minghella, David Dencik, and Eddie Marsan among the supporting cast.
The film had a budget of $44 million before marketing expenses, a smaller investment than the budgets associated with DC’s biggest superhero productions. It won’t need to deliver blockbuster numbers to become a worthwhile investment for the studio.
Check out Chris Bumbray’s Clayface review, which describes the movie as a bloody, R-rated revenge flick with a satisfying B-movie sensibility.
Can You Can See Everything Beat Clayface?
You Can See Everything is a wild card this weekend. Directed by Fielder and Lance Oppenheim, the documentary follows Holmes in the period leading up to her prison sentence for her role in the Theranos scandal. Its unexpected success has turned it into a genuine box office contender, despite its lengthy 174-minute running time and subject matter that might ordinarily be expected to appeal to a narrower audience.
The documentary earned $15.6 million in its opening weekend, and Deadline reports that it also enjoyed strong midweek business. Its expansion from 855 theaters to approximately 2,600 puts it in a position to challenge Clayface, even with the DC movie opening to a respectable preview number.
In his weekend box office predictions, Chris Bumbray notes that the race could be extremely close, and he still believes You Can See Everything could come out on top, thanks to its unexpected popularity and expanding theater count. That would be quite a result for an unconventional documentary to achieve against a new DC movie.
For now, Clayface has made a solid entrance, but the weekend’s biggest surprise may yet come from Nathan Fielder and Elizabeth Holmes. Will DC’s horror movie take the top spot, or will You Can See Everything pull off another unexpected win? Share your thoughts on this race by leaving a comment below.
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