WB is attempting to find its second DCU hit in a row in the form of Clayface , which would join the smash-hit Lanterns that just wrapped up its run on HBO Max. The low(ish) budget horror movie is attempting to capitalize on a genre that often finds hits in unexpected places, but in this instance, many comic movie fans will also recognize its central antihero. They also want to see its larger connections to the DCU, including hopes it could reveal Batman for the first time.

The film has undergone a number of screenings, including one that many are posting about on Sunday night. Clayface will drop its social media review embargo tomorrow , Tuesday, October 13. That’s one of the earliest in the entire DCU and projects confidence in the movie’s quality, as opposed to some films that hold reviews until the very last second (see the 17%-rated Other Mommy from this past weekend).

Many impressions and very brief early mini-reviews have begun circulating online since last night, including photos of the screening room and praise for the film’s quality. However, let’s call them anti-fans, have started circulating photos with captions full of hate and alleged spoilers about the film and its plot turns, including its ending.

Fortunately, it’s pretty easy to tell which of these are fake. Not just because they’re negative or spoilery, but because most of them use the exact same shot someone posted from inside the screening room, suggesting they’re simply faking attendance and their reactions. We’ve seen this before with other films, and social media misinformation is a plague that has only worsened over time. AI certainly doesn’t help in terms of producing fake leaks, but I haven’t seen that happening here yet. You can also check the likely status of these impressions and “leaks” by going to timelines and seeing just how many tweets are devoted to lambasting James Gunn and the DCU.

There is another story circulating that Clayface early sales are tracking much lower than Supergirl pre-sales at the same point in time, but there are several caveats to that, if those numbers are even accurate:

  • Supergirl was a tentpole blockbuster with a much higher budget and higher expectations
  • Supergirl’s ticket sales collapsed once middling reviews emerged for the film, and the opposite could happen with Clayface .
  • Clayface has little competition in its opening weekend on October 23, Klara and the Sun, You Can See Everything and Wildwood , the stop-motion animated film with amazing reviews and terrible box office tracking
  • Clayface is a horror movie releasing a week before Halloween. You don’t have to know anything about Batman to show up and see it, and even awful horror movies are doing big numbers this month, like this weekend’s Other Mommy . Clayface could put up enormously better scores to boost its fortunes.

I previously said that I didn’t think the movie would do well, but I have since changed my mind and think that statement is going to prove wrong. I would not believe any over-the-top hate you see online, especially since the DCU has a dedicated army of always-online haters in the form of Zack Snyder devotees who miss his DCEU and want him to return and replace James Gunn. Not that all DCU projects are good, but early, uninformed hate should be examined before being believed.

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