After the box office failure of Supergirl, DC Studios needs a win, but is it going to be Clayface? No matter what, the upcoming film will be something quite different from what we’ve seen in the DCU so far, and it’s been given an appropriately gritty rating. Clayface has officially received an R-rating from the MPA, with the film including “Strong bloody violence, gore, language, some nudity and brief drug use.“
The official description for Clayface reads: “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, spiraling him down a destructive path of all-consuming revenge.“
The film has been directed by James Watkins (Speak No Evil) from a script by Mike Flanagan (The Haunting of Hill House) and Hossein Amini (Obi-Wan Kenobi). Tom Rhys Harries (The Gentlemen) stars alongside Naomi Ackie (No Time to Die) and Max Minghella (The Handmaid’s Tale).
DC Studios co-head James Gunn has described the movie as a “complete horror film,” adding that he never actually intended to make the project, but the original script from horror maestro Flanagan was just too good to ignore. “I didn’t plan on making a Clayface movie. Mike came in. He pitched this wonderful idea. I was like, ‘Damn, I can’t believe you got me to want to make a Clayface movie,’” Gunn said. “But he’s got to write the script and who knows how that’s going to work. He goes and he writes the script. First draft is great. Second draft is even better. And then I’m like, ‘Let’s do it.’ So we found a place for it because if there’s quality stuff, we can find a way to work it in.” Clayface is slated for a October 23 release.
That might be a touch dramatic. I don’t know if the DCU needs saving at this particular point, but it does need a win. Superman was a success, but not quite on the level it should have been. And Supergirl, well, that was a shame. That film ended its theatrical run with a worldwide total of just $125.8 million. Not great.
Thankfully, Clayface doesn’t need to be a box office juggernaut to be considered a success, as its budget is considerably lower than that of Superman and Supergirl, but there are a lot of eyes on the movie. If it’s deemed another failure, critical or otherwise, it’s hard to say what will happen. Personally, I think the movie looks promising, and it does look like a significant tonal shift from the previous two DCU movies.