Wolf Man Footage Reaction: Blumhouse Resurrects A Legendary Universal Monster [CinemaCon 2024]
As long as there is a Universal Studios, there will be Universal monster movies. Because though tastes may change from generation to generation, moviegoers will always have a hunger for new iterations of Dracula, Frankenstein, The Invisible Man and the Wolf Man.
Universal hasn't always had a good deal of luck with reimagining these legendary beasts over the years. The Stephen Sommers-spearheaded "Van Helsing" experiment died a very loud and expensive death in 2003, while the "Dark Universe" was infamously devoured by a black hole of disinterest when audiences rejected Tom Cruise's "The Mummy." But Universal scored a surprise hit with Leigh Whannell's $7 million-budgeted, Blumhouse-produced "The Invisible Man" in 2020, which inspired the studio develop projects that didn't have to be tethered to a shared universe.
Next up in the newfangled classic monsters lineup was set to be "The Wolf Man" starring Ryan Gosling and directed by Derek Cianfrance. But when this duo exited the project in 2023, the gig went to Whannell (who had spent time on the Gosling version before Cianfrance came aboard).
Christopher Abbott (so good in "Poor Things") will play Larry Talbot aka the Wolf Man. Julia Garner and Sam Jaeger have also been cast in the film, which is reportedly about a father who battles to protect his family from a werewolf on the prowl during a full moon. Whannell's "Wolf Man" only began shooting on March 17, and won't be hitting theaters until January 17, 2025, but Universal and CinemaCon have offered a tease of what to expect during a panel at CinemaCon 2024.
A bloody beast from Blumhouse
From the footage shown at CinemaCon, this "Wolf Man" remake will be a father-daughter story; instead of a village being terrorized, it may just be one family.
The teaser (which is largely set in one location) shows Christopher Abbott with a young girl lying on a couch, presumably his character's daughter. She asks him, "Daddy, are we going to die" and when he reassures her they aren't, she replies, "That's a lie. Everybody dies eventually."
This is a conversation that many a parent could have with their young children. It looks like for this father-daughter pair, "eventually" may mean sooner rather than later. Something unseen is lurking outside the house (almost certainly the werewolf). It's hard to make out much in a series of chaotic quick cuts, but there's a shot of Abbott's bloody arm, suggesting he's been bitten by the werewolf and will become the Wolf Man.
The creepy atmosphere, from the visuals to the music, suggests that director Leigh Whannell hasn't lost his horror touch since 2020's "The Invisible Man."
"Wolf Man" is currently scheduled for theatrical release on January 17, 2025.