Reviews for Universal’s newest monster movie Wolf Man are in, and they are not looking good. The weekend box office numbers are fluctuating and Wolf Man is currently low on the list.
The 2025 Blumhouse remake of The Wolf Man is Universal Studios‘ latest attempt at reviving its Monster Universe, with director Leigh Whannell returning after The Invisible Man. Whannell’s skills as a horror filmmaker are most exemplified by his work on the Saw franchise and Insidious movies, as well as more niche films like Upgrade and The Bye Bye Man.
However, this latest film has joined his short but growing list of failures.
Wolf Man (2025) is officially certified rotten on Rotten Tomatoes by both the audience and the critics, with industry pros giving it 59% and the paying cutsomers coming in at 53%.
The Numbers Don’t Lie, But Industry Shills Do
The film only made around $12 million at the box office in its opening weekend. According to Deadline, it’s only expected to bring in somewhere between $17 million and $20 million during its first 4-days.
In previews, the movie only made $1.4 million. This is less than director Leigh Whannell’s The Invisible Man, which did $1.65 million in previews before a $28.2 million opening.
A screenshot from the trailer to The Wolf Man – YouTube, Universal Pictures
Wolf Man had a $25 million budget, according to Variety. However, with its current ratings and low box office returns, it might not even break even. Universal is likely expecting a flop, much like its attempted reboot of The Mummy.
There’s an extreme disconnect between advance social media reactions by industry professionals to Wolf Man and the terrible reviews stacking up on Rotten Tomatoes. The film received glowing praise from early viewers, who called it heartwarming, terrifying, and “some of the most excellent horror in recent memory.”
#WolfMan will leave you afraid of the dark! Watched this movie with my feet up on the air because I was terrified of what could grab my ankles. Just a suspenseful thrill from start to finish. Christopher Abbott is a star and I love him so much! pic.twitter.com/V6frodldjq
— Rachel Leishman (@RachelLeishman) January 7, 2025
Rachel Leishman of The Mary Sue even called it “Just a suspenseful thrill from start to finish. Christopher Abbott is a star and I love him so much!”
While some might argue the problem lies in the audience simply not wanting remakes of classic horror movies, recent history would prove that perspective wrong. The recent remake of the classic Nosferatu is a box office success. That film has earned over $135 million worldwide so far on a $50 million budget.
According to Collider, that makes it the third-biggest horror hit of 2024, after Alien: Romulus and A Quiet Place: Day One. The century-old vampire franchise is proof that remakes and reboots can in fact be good, if done right by people who care.
The History of The Wolf Man
The original 1941 movie The Wolf Man, one of Universal’s classic monster movies, set the precedent for werewolf films.
Other Universal movies such as Dracula and Frankenstein had source material to work with; however, The Wolf Man did not. Therefore, creative liberties were taken regarding werewolf lore.
Most notable were the elements of transforming under a full moon and the vulnerability to silver bullets. These two particular features were actually invented by the movie’s screenwriter, Curt Siodmak. Their introduction to the screen was so iconic that they became canonical to almost every werewolf story thereafter!
Universal Should Take Heed
So what does the reboot’s apparent failure mean for Universal Studios? It’s clear that Universal intends to revive its classic monsters, likely in the form of a cinematic universe. While it worked in the 1950’s, the concept of shared universes between films has grown stale thanks to modern cinema. However, the studio still has a chance at success with its upcoming Dark Universe land coming to Epic Universe at Universal Studios Orlando.
Wolfman concept art for Epic Universe – Universal
READ: Opinion: Don’t Cry “Woke” Wolf Over Epic Universe’s Victoria Frankenstein
Many horror fans are excited to see their deathly heroes be given their own theme park. At this point, Universal would be wise to focus more on the stories for the park and rides, rather than attempting to remake classic movies.
What is your opinion? Is Wolf Man as bad as the ratings suggest? Let us know in the comments below!
Raven Redgrave, AKA Writing Raven, is the co-host of the Gothic Therapy YouTube channel with her husband MasterOfTheTDS. The channel features a look at pop culture, entertainment, and gaming with insightful commentary, sharp critiques, and a dose of dark humor.
There were no serious expectations for this movie, that’s why it was burned off in January…
Side note: I wish you guys and other non-woke sites would stop appealing to Rotten Tomatoes numbers. We all know the critic scores can’t be trusted, and after they recently shifted the audience score to only include people who are certified to have purchased tickets through Rotten Tomatoes’ parent company, we can’t trust that rating either. I don’t know what other site to use; maybe metacritic? But not RT.
That’s the problem with establishments. Most degenerate to being increasingly Left Wing (woke) over time. O’Sullivans Law.
DEI casting. This is guaranteed to lose most of the audience.
I actually saw the preview for this without really paying attention. I thought it was another “victim” woman protecting her kid from a stereotypical horrible dad who somehow became even evil’er. Therefore she had to become even more girl-bossy. Then somehow the title alluded to wolf-man. Phuck hollywood where they all collectively breathe.
Werewolf movies are hard enough when there are actual werewolves and it follows familiar werewolf lore. This movie didn’t have the former or even try to do the latter.
I said this on BIC and I’ll say it here: let’s see some movies based on historical cases of suspected or accused werewolves. And especially let’s not shrink away from the crimes that earned them that accusation: child murder and cannibalism. Even if they weren’t shapeshifters, they were still very real monsters that still exist to this day. Or would that be “offensive?”
I saw it last week. I’d put it on par with Morbius.
And that Leishman doesn’t sound like a critic. She sounds like a fangirl.
Aoowhooh! Werewolves of failure.