DC’s First Horror Movie Officially Breaks Franchise's Box Office Slump

Published Oct 25, 2026, 12:00 PM EDT

Rohan Naahar is a News Writer for Collider. From Francois Ozon to David Fincher, he’ll watch anything once. He has covered everything from Marvel to the Oscars, and Marvel at the Oscars. He also writes obsessively about the box office, charting the many hits and misses that are released weekly, and how their commercial performance shapes public perception. In his time at Collider, he has also helped drive diversity by writing stories about the multiple Indian film industries, with a goal of introducing audiences to a whole new world of cinema.

Armed with positive word-of-mouth, DC’s Clayface exceeded expectations in its box-office debut. Fans have often wondered what a (relatively) low-budget superhero movie would look like, and while Joker emerged as an anomaly, the industry has largely been reluctant to experiment with high-value properties. DC’s own Supergirl movie tanked this summer with a $125 million worldwide haul against a reported budget of more than $185 million. The franchise began in 2025 with a Superman reboot directed by James Gunn — the movie made a solid $620 million globally against a reported budget of $225 million. A sequel, titled Man of Tomorrow, is slated for release in summer 2027. Clayface is a bold step toward creating standalone genre movies based on DC characters, with a Swamp Thing movie in the works from director James Mangold.

Clayface follows an actor from Gotham City who transforms into a vengeful anti-hero after he is assaulted by a gangster and undergoes an experimental medical procedure. Starring newcomer Tom Rhys Harries alongside Naomi Ackie, the movie earned a stellar A- grade on CinemaScore, matching the grade received by last year’s Superman. This is not only an excellent result for a superhero title, but it’s also something of an anomaly for a horror film. Clayface is now sitting at a “Certified Fresh” 75% critics’ score and a “Verified Hot” 94% audience score on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, where the consensus reads, “Carving out a unique identity for itself in the DCU while closely resembling a litany of body horror classics, Clayface takes time to get going until it eventually morphs into an icky and satisfying revenge thriller.”

Four franchises, four completely different ways of getting underneath your skin. This is the one built out of your particular fear, why it works so well on you, and what it would leave behind.

Your nightmare does not wait outside the door. It waits for you to close your eyes, which you are going to have to do eventually, because nobody has ever won that particular argument.

Your nightmare is not really the doll. It is the face of the person you tell, and the way they decide, very kindly, that you have imagined all of it.

Your nightmare has your number, knows your name, and has almost certainly been inside your house before. The worst part is that you already know them.

Your nightmare is not really about you. It is about the people asleep down the hall, and the feeling that whatever is here is not interested in leaving.

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