Clayface opens in US theaters this Friday, Oct. 23, 2026, and it is not the movie you might expect from a Batman villain: DC Studios is selling a body-horror tragedy, not a superhero slugfest. Here is the release date, the cast, the plot, the rating situation, and how it connects to James Gunn’s DCU, all in one place.
When is the Clayface release date, and where can you watch it?
Friday, Oct. 23, 2026 in North American theaters, with international rollout beginning Oct. 21, per the film’s official site. It is a theatrical-only release for now; no streaming date has been announced. The film already held its world premiere at the Hollywood Legion Theater in Los Angeles on Oct. 13. It runs 108 minutes. The official rating had not been widely published at press time, though the body-horror positioning suggests an adult-skewing ticket; check your local listing.
What is Clayface about?
Matt Hagen is a Gotham street kid turned Hollywood leading man whose rise is cut short when a local crime boss leaves him horribly disfigured. Abandoned by his team, he volunteers for a cutting-edge treatment from a fringe scientist that restores his face but costs him his grip on reality, sending him down what the studio calls “a destructive path of all-consuming revenge.” Producer Peter Safran has compared the tone to David Cronenberg’s The Fly (1986), and the AP’s preview asks whether DC can successfully blend horror with a superhero movie. That is the explicit experiment here.
Who is in the Clayface cast?
Tom Rhys Harries as Matt Hagen / Clayface, the actor transformed into living clay
Naomi Ackie as Dr. Caitlyn Corr, the “fringe” scientist behind the treatment and Matt’s love interest; the character has been compared to Elizabeth Holmes
Max Minghella as John Borrelli, a Gotham City police detective dating Caitlyn
Eddie Marsan and David Dencik in key supporting roles, with Nancy Carroll, Joshua James, Francesca Corney, Ruby Sear and Wil Coban also cast
James Watkins (Speak No Evil) directs from a screenplay by Mike Flanagan and Hossein Amini, from Flanagan’s story. Producers are Matt Reeves, Lynn Harris, James Gunn and Peter Safran.
Is Clayface part of the DCU or The Batman’s universe?
The DCU. Despite Matt Reeves producing, Clayface is the third film in James Gunn and Peter Safran’s DC Universe and part of its Chapter One: Gods and Monsters slate, not Reeves’ separate Batman Elseworlds world. The character technically already debuted in the DCU: Alan Tudyk voiced a Clayface in the animated Creature Commandos series. Flanagan, a lifelong fan of the Batman: The Animated Series episode “Feat of Clay,” pitched the film as a horror-tragedy where Clayface is not the villain of his own story, and Gunn has said the script won him over despite Clayface never being on his wishlist.
How we got here: the road to Clayface
January 2021: Mike Flanagan publicly says he wants to make a Clayface movie.
March 2023: Flanagan and partner Trevor Macy pitch it to the new DC Studios.
December 2024: DC Studios officially greenlights the film as part of the DCU; Flanagan can’t direct due to scheduling conflicts.
February 2025: James Watkins hired to direct. June 2025: Tom Rhys Harries cast in the title role.
August-November 2025: Filmed in Liverpool and at Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden on a stripped-down budget reported around $30-40 million.
Oct. 13, 2026: World premiere in Los Angeles. Oct. 23, 2026: US theatrical release.
What this means for moviegoers
If you’re planning a Friday night, know what you’re buying: this is positioned as a tragedy with horror makeup, closer to The Fly than to The Batman, so it pairs differently than a standard comic-book crowd-pleaser. It’s one of four notable openers on Oct. 23 alongside Ali G: Who Iz I?, Wildwood and Klara and the Sun: see our full guide to the week’s new releases. At a reported $30-40 million budget, it doesn’t need superhero-scale grosses to work, which is exactly the kind of swing DC can now afford to take. For contrast, Street Fighter just opened to $31 million on a very different playbook.
Our analysis: DC’s cheapest film may be its most important test
Clayface is the DCU’s proof-of-concept for the “small bets” strategy. Superman carried the franchise launch; Supergirl and Clayface are the experiments that determine whether this universe can stretch genre the way the comics do. A $30-40 million body-horror film with no A-list lead only exists because Gunn and Safran don’t need every DC film to clear $500 million. There’s a poetic edge, too: the character’s defining story, “Feat of Clay,” was always a Hollywood tragedy about a performer losing his face, and handing it to Mike Flanagan, horror’s most literal chronicler of grief, suggests DC understood the assignment. If audiences show up for a monster movie with a DC logo, expect the rogues gallery to get a lot stranger from here.
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