Variety Says ‘Clayface' Won't Break Even Theatrically

There's an interesting tidbit in the latest Variety piece about James Gunn and Peter Safran's ouster at DC Studios:

While October's 'Clayface' performed modestly, grossing $109 million against a $44 million budget, sources suggest the body-horror thriller won't break even until the studio factors in downstream revenues.

Based on previous trade reporting, we were under the assumption that "Clayface" would be in the green by the end of its run. Variety's sources claim it won't be. That makes me wonder whether the real budget was much higher than Gunn and Warner Bros. led us to believe, which wouldn't be a first for them.

So either Gunn's camp was lying about the film's success, or this Variety piece is full of Ellison-connected sources trying to bolster the case that Gunn and Safran's firings were fully warranted. Honestly, it could be both.

That being said, at this point, it wouldn't surprise me if it came out that "Superman," which made $618M worldwide, was actually a money-loser for Warner Bros. Skeptics still believe the reported $225M budget understates the film's actual cost. Anyway, if it did lose money, you can bet Ellison's camp will leak that soon.