Clayface opened in theaters last week, earning largely positive reviews from critics and glowing audience scores. Despite that, the movie opened to only $24 million, falling slightly short of expectations and suggesting the R-rated horror tale has a long way to go before turning a profit.
On Monday, Clayface made $2.2 million, with You Can See Everything nipping at its heels with $2.1 million. It's too soon to say what this means for the DC Studios movie's second weekend in theaters, but Halloween and positive word of mouth could lead to a strong hold.
Clayface explores Matt Hagen's descent into villainy before we met him at his most monstrous in Creature Commandos. While a Clayface sequel can't be discounted, the logical next step for the character is to show up in The Brave and the Bold or perhaps alongside Christopher Smith in Salvation.
Now, though, DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn has left fans scratching their heads. On Saturday, the filmmaker agreed with someone who said not every project needs to set up another when he wrote on Threads, "[The] DCU is just an alternate universe; we can enter at any location or time and tell that story. I dislike the idea that individual stories aren’t meaningful unless they lead to something else."
"People not understanding this is strange to me, because 'Star Wars' has essentially been doing this for 50 years across movies, shows, games and books, admittedly without the tonal variety."
However, at the Clayface premiere, an excited Gunn declared, "I think one of the most fun things about creating the DCU is being able to tell stories that are very, very different from one another, in very different genres, and yet they all come together at certain points. And yeah, this isn’t the last we’ll see of Clayface. And I can’t wait for you guys to see what we do with him."
There's an apparent contradiction in Gunn's comments, as he's simultaneously encouraging audiences to look ahead to Clayface's future while criticising the expectation that individual stories in a shared world should lead to something else.
Of course, there's a distinction between a character continuing beyond their solo movie and a film existing primarily to set up future projects. Matt Hagen can have a complete, meaningful story in Clayface while still appearing in other DCU projects. Gunn's argument is presumably that the movie shouldn't need to tease a future crossover or advance some overarching narrative to justify its existence.
Still, by promising that Clayface will return, Gunn is adding to speculation about the character's place in the wider DCU, while seemingly criticising those heading into theaters with the expectation that the movie will set up something like The Brave and the Bold.
Whether Gunn's apparent change in attitude is down to lower-than-expected box office takings or because he was trying to build excitement with a big tease before the movie's release is another debate altogether.
Ultimately, Gunn isn't necessarily contradicting himself by planning more for Clayface, but there's an irony in teasing the character's future while pushing back against the interconnected storytelling that has conditioned audiences to look for precisely those clues.