The superhero genre continues to be wildly popular, with a number of shared universes currently in play. Fans are looking forward to a number of upcoming DC moves, including the developing Clayface project, which is written by horror icon Mike Flanagan. That project just reportedly hit another setback, but there's good news.
James Gunn greenlit Clayface alongside the first slate of DCU projects, titled "Gods and Monsters." Fans are eager to see how this comes together, especially since Peter Safran called it pure horror. But a Twitter post from scooper Umberto Gonzalez revealed that Clayface is set to begin filming in October, rather than this summer. Good news: this reported schedule change means that the movie is still expected to be produced.
The film industry is unpredictable, and some titles have been announced, developed, and then completely abandoned by their studios. Warner Bros. in particular has a history with this, as it scrapped the Batgirl movie despite the millions it cost to shoot. So we might have to keep crossing our fingers for Clayface.
Mike Flanagan is the man behind some of the best horror movies and TV shows from recent memory, including Hush, The Haunting of Hill House, and Midnight Mass. So the fact that he wrote the script for the upcoming Batman-related project is thrilling news for fans of the genre. But he's not going to actually be directing it, with that honor going to filmmaker James Watkins, whose credits include 2024's Speak No Evil and one of the best Black Mirror episodes, "Shut Up and Dance." And it should be fascinating to see how exactly body horror ends up fitting into the overall DCU.
A few months isn't a huge difference when it comes to Clayface's reported change to its production start. There's been no indication that the movie is going to change its release date on the upcoming 2026 movie schedule just yet, but we'll have to see if/when cameras actually go up on the DC project.
While information about the contents of the Clayface movie are currently under wraps, the timing of this specific type of comic book movie seems helpful. Body horror returned to the main stream thanks to Demi Moore's The Substance, which became a critical and Awards Season darling, including at the 2025 Academy Awards. So audiences might be set up to enjoy a comic book take on this subgenre with Watkins' forthcoming title.
Warner Bros. has been shown to taken a number of risks with DC iconography, including the Joker franchise and Matt Reeves' The Batman, which are set outside of the main universe. Clayface is expected to be set within the new DCU, so the developing movie has the potential to influence future projects.
Clayface is currently expected to hit theaters on September 11th 2026. But there are some other DC titles on the 2025 movie release list including Superman.
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