Clayface is No. 1 worldwide two weekends running, and No. 2 in Malaysia; what parents should know

Clayface has been the world's biggest film for two weekends, and a modest one at that. Screen Daily reported on 2 November that it topped the global chart again with an estimated US$22.8 million over Halloween weekend, taking it to US$83 million worldwide after two weekends: US$44.1 million in North America and US$38.9 million elsewhere. With a reported budget of US$44 million, the paper said, it looks set to make a profit. Its opening weekend was an estimated US$24.0 million in North America and US$19.0 million elsewhere, about US$43 million in all; the second weekend fell 57 per cent in North America and 34 per cent internationally, so audiences outside America have held on to it better.

Second in Malaysia

Here it opened behind Rajinikanth. Malay Mail's chart for 22 to 25 October put Jailer 2 at No. 1 and Clayface at No. 2, with Street Fighter and Whalefall next; the paper described Malaysian audiences as responding positively. In North America, The Numbers' weekend chart for 30 October to 1 November had it second with US$11.0 million, just behind You Can See Everything, so its global No. 1 rests on the rest of the world, led by the UK and Ireland with US$6.1 million, Screen says.

What the critics said

Reviews are lukewarm. Screen Daily's Tim Grierson called it a gory, predictable body horror and wrote that neither its presentation nor its antihero is novel enough to carry a full feature. In Free Malaysia Today, Dinesh Kumar Maganathan found it "less like a major DC release and more like a B-grade companion piece", though he credited Tom Rhys Harries: "Harries sells that descent convincingly." Harries plays Matt Hagen, an actor disfigured by a crime boss, opposite Naomi Ackie as Dr Caitlin Bates; James Watkins directs from a script by Mike Flanagan and Hossein Amini.

What parents should know

The chains' listings classify it 18 in Malaysia, for viewers aged 18 and above. The Numbers records the American R rating as being for strong bloody violence, gore, language, some nudity and brief drug use. That is the whole answer to a parents' guide: this DC film is not one for teenagers.

Where it is still showing

Its third week here is a much smaller run: about 120 sessions a day from Thursday 5 November, against 595 today, as Godzilla Minus Zero and the week's other openings take its halls. It is still at 124 cinemas, with a few 4DX and Atmos sessions. The Clayface page lists every cinema, and the showtimes page shows each cinema's Clayface sessions. It runs 108 minutes.