Universal Monster’s Wolf Man Surges to Streaming Success After Box Office Flop

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As a seasoned movie critic, I’ve been eagerly anticipating Universal Pictures’ ambitious project to revisit some of literature’s most chilling characters from their esteemed collection – Frankenstein’s Monster, The Mummy, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, The Invisible Man, Count Dracula, among others. While these tales have been masterfully brought to life in earlier adaptations, the challenge for Universal lies in breathing new life into these remakes.

The most recent Universal Monsters film, titled “Wolf Man,” premiered in early 2025. With the studio still riding high from previous successes and Leigh Whannell at the helm, the movie had significant promise. However, despite initial expectations, Wolf Man didn’t meet its critical and commercial goals. Interestingly, it has found new life on Peacock since its recent release on streaming platforms. (Sources: Variety, The Hollywood Reporter)

Just a few days after hitting the big screen on January 17th, I couldn’t resist checking out the chilling horror flick, “Wolf Man.” To my surprise, it quickly dominated the box office rankings on its second day in theaters. However, for a brief moment, it was dethroned by the enchanting live-action fantasy film “Hop,” which timely arrived on April 21st, coinciding with Easter. But “Wolf Man” bounced back and reclaimed its spot at the top of the charts on April 22nd and 23rd.

It seems that the streaming release of Wolf Man’s film has demonstrated continued fascination with Universal Monsters, despite its initial poor box office performance and mixed reviews. The movie, which was met with mediocre scores from critics (50% approval), was labeled as “rotten.” Similarly, audiences shared this sentiment, giving it a 56% approval rating on Popcornmeter.

In a slight rewording, here’s the passage: “Wolf Man pursues Blake, a man who accompanies his wife, Charlotte, and daughter, Ginger, to his secluded childhood home for a brief respite. Upon their late-night arrival at the farmhouse, they are assaulted by an unknown beast, forcing them to barricade themselves within the house. However, as the nights pass, Blake exhibits bizarre behavior and gradually morphs into a creature resembling the one they had been fleeing.

The movie called “Wolf Man” (or “Poor Things,” or “It Comes at Night”) stars Julia Garner (“Ozark”, “Inventing Anna”), Matilda Firth (“Hullraisers”, “Coma”), Sam Jaeger (“The Eyes of Tammy Faye”). This movie is a joint effort between Universal and Blumhouse, with James Wan co-writing and directing. However, the idea of a bigger cinematic universe from Universal featuring its legendary classic monsters has not been successful yet.

The Universal Monsters Franchise Continues

During the 2010s, Universal envisioned a shared cinematic universe called the Dark Universe. However, this venture fell apart following the poor box office performance of 2017’s The Mummy. This universe was intended to host numerous projects, all of which were eventually scrapped. Remarkably, The Invisible Man revived the franchise, but the Wolf Man movie didn’t meet the studio’s expectations as well.

Nevertheless, additional remakes are in the works for this particular title, which has previously been brought to the big screen by Brendan Fraser and Tom Cruise in separate adaptations. Lee Cronin will be penning and directing the upcoming version, with a projected release date of April 17, 2026. Jack Reynor is slated to star in this new production, alongside another actor yet to be announced.

Wolf Man is streaming on Peacock.

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2025-04-23 15:05