‘Clayface’ Just Made ‘Supergirl’ Look Like an Even Bigger Flop

When Warner Bros.’ $170 million-budgeted Supergirl opened to just $38 million in North America over the summer, it felt like a calamity, prompting many to question the superhero genre’s viability beyond major characters like Batman and Spider-Man.

So consider the R-rated, body-horror-adjacent movie Clayface a path forward. The latest from Warner Bros.’ DC Films unit opened with $24 million in the U.S. and Canada — low for a superhero movie, but finally a new model for what success can look like on a $30 million budget in the genre.

“I’m team Clayface,” says Christopher Rosen. “A reasonable budget; an A-minus CinemaScore, so the audience that went liked it; young viewers came out in droves.”

About those young viewers: 73 percent of the Clayface audience was under 35 — an even higher percentage of Gen Zers and young millennials than Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim’s doc sensation You Can See Everything (70 percent of the A24 movie’s opening weekend audience was under 35).

“It’s kind of an interesting moment for comic book films,” says Sean McNulty. “You’re either going big, like Spider-Man or The Avengers, or you’re in a lower tier. Maybe there’s this new lower-budget swing going on here.”

While Clayface won the weekend and You Can See Everything continued its unprecedented run, earning $19 million in its second weekend as A24 added 1,800 screens, the box office report was also notable for what wasn’t present: Amazon MGM’s Sacha Baron Cohen movie Ali G: Who Iz I?

The comedy — which Amazon promoted as a one-weekend-only event — was released in 125 theaters. No box office was reported.

“Where Iz I? is maybe a better title here,” says Chris.

Baron Cohen, who participated in a big media tour for the project — including a 60 Minutes interview that left Sean and others perplexed — filmed Ali G in secret. The project was revealed over the summer when Amazon announced it had joined as the distributor — and while the company kept its streaming plans under wraps, Baron Cohen said Monday that it’ll hit Prime Video this week.

But maybe the film’s failure to launch had more to do with the zeitgeist than anything else.

“It’s all about Elizabeth Holmes now,” says Sean of the You Can See Everything subject. “Sorry, Ali G.”