Following the disappointing opening weekend for Supergirl, the future of the DC Universe now depends on a $40 million movie that does not involve Superman.

There have been two movies in James Gunn‘s new DCU. The first was Superman, Gunn’s interpretation of the Man of Steel. Released in July 2025, Superman garnered mostly positive reviews and grossed $618 million worldwide. Overall, a promising start for the revamped DC Universe.

The DCU’s second movie, Supergirl, severely underperformed this past weekend with a domestic opening of $38 million. That is not an ideal start for a movie that cost over $170 million to produce. Supergirl’s mixed reviews also didn’t help its case, and it will most likely end its theatrical run as a box office flop.

Supergirl is not as popular as Superman. Therefore, Warner Bros. probably did Supergirl a disservice by making it an expensive blockbuster. The industry would be contemplating it a lot differently if it cost $100 million.

Because of the Supergirl letdown, the third movie in the DCU has now become that much more important.

Why Clayface could be the most important test of DC Studios’ new strategy

That next movie in the DCU is Clayface, a body horror movie starring Tom Rhys Harries as Matt Hagen, an actor who transforms his body into clay after a gangster disfigured his face. James Watkins will direct from a screenplay by Mike Flanagan and Hossein Amini.

Compared to the first two DCU movies, Clayface presents a new strategy for this cinematic universe. Superman and Supergirl were expensive tentpole blockbusters featuring large-scale action scenes and high-profile stakes.

Clayface is a genre movie with an estimated $40 million budget. While centering a movie about a future Batman villain without the Caped Crusader is undoubtedly a risk, positioning Clayface as a modest-budget horror movie is an interesting strategy that might pave the way for the DCU’s future.

There is no guarantee that Clayface will work. Positive reviews will go a long way in determining the movie’s fate. If it works, then genre-based storytelling on modest budgets might be the way forward for DCU movies about characters other than Superman and Batman.

Clayface opens in theaters on October 23, 2026.

Originally reported by Dan Girolamo for SuperHeroHype.