Wolf Man (Christopher Abbott / Julia Garner) (January 17, 2025)

Wolf Man has taken a new form.

Christopher Abbott, currently on screens with award season darling Poor Things, will star in Blumhouse and Universal Pictures’ werewolf thriller that is being directed by Invisible Man filmmaker Leigh Whannell.

Additionally, the companies have set an Oct. 25, 2024 release date for the feature, meaning the project is now moving faster than a speeding silver bullet.

That’s a hair-raising development for the thriller, which for the past three-plus years had Ryan Gosling on board to star. And it marks a return to the Wolf Man director’s chair for Whannell, who was initially on board the creature feature but moved aside in 2021, with Gosling’s Place Beyond the Pines and Blue Valentine director Derek Cianfrance parachuting in.

Gosling and Cianfrance have both departed the project although Gosling will now receive an executive producer credit.

Plot details are being kept on the dark side of the moon but the mysterious story is now focused on a man whose family is being terrorized by a lethal predator.

The script was written by Whannell and Corbett Tuck as well as Lauren Schuker Blum and Rebecca Angelo, the latter the duo who penned the well-regarded comedic drama, Dumb Money.

Jason Blum is producing the film.

In addition to Gosling, Ken Kao, Bea Sequeira, Mel Turner and Whannell are executive producing. Wolfman will be a Blumhouse and Motel Movies production.

For Whannell, Wolf Man will mark the second monster movie and fourth directing collaboration with Blumhouse, after 2020’s The Invisible Man, 2018’s Upgrade, and 2015’s Insidious: Chapter 3. The writer-director is repped by by CAA and Myman Greenspan.

Wolf Man could turn out to be the most mainstream project yet for Abbott, who has made name for himself starring in eclectic and unique indies over the years. The actor has appeared films ranging from Sean Durkin’s Martha Marcy May Marlene to Brandon Cronenberg’s Possessor, notching up Indie Spirit and Golden Globe nominations.  

This year, in addition to Poor Things, Abbott also appeared opposite Tom Holland in Apple’s The Crowded Room miniseries.

Blumhouse’s next monster movie is coming together as Julia Garner (Ozark) has been cast in Wolf Man. The news comes to us via The Hollywood Reporter, with the outlet revealing that the actress will star alongside Christopher Abbott (Possessor, It Comes at Night) in the new take on the Universal Monsters classic.

The project has been in development for some time, but the puzzle pieces are all finally sliding nicely into place. At one point, Ryan Gosling was attached to the lead role before Abbott stepped in to replace him. Leigh Whannell is in the director’s chair for Wolf Man. That seems fitting as Whannell previously directed 2020’s The Invisible Man.

Aside from earning a great deal of critical acclaim, that film was a major commercial hit too, taking in $144 million worldwide against a mere $7 million budget. That’s made all the more impressive given that the pandemic cut the film’s theatrical run short. Undoubtedly, Blumhouse and Universal are hoping to mirror that success once again. Universal was, for a time, making expensive blockbusters based on its classic monsters, such as 2010’s The Wolfman. After 2017’s The Mummy failed to launch the planned Dark Universe, the studio pivoted to lower-budget, creator-driven takes. Thus far, that has served them well.

Plot details are largely being kept under wraps for the new take on the werewolf tale. Whannell co-wrote the screenplay alongside Corbett Tuck, Lauren Schuker Blum and Rebecca Angelo. Filming is expected to begin soon as the film is racing towards a release date that Universal has set for later this year. Release dates are, of course, not set in stone but one imagines the studio would like to make that date if at all possible.

As for Garner, she has largely enjoyed success on acclaimed TV shows up to this point in her career. Aside from Netflix’s drug drama Ozark, she also starred in Inventing Anna and The Americans. But she is not a complete stranger to horror either, having starred in 2013’s The Last Exorcism Part II. Garner is said to be playing “a mother whose family is being terrorized by a lethal predator.” Abbott will play the father. Garner and Abbott previously starred together in 2011’s Martha, Marcy, May, Marlene.

Wolf Man is currently set to hit theaters on October 25, 2024.

Universal announced that Leigh Whannell’s “Wolf Man” has delayed its release by three months, and will now open wide on January 17, 2025. It had previously been scheduled for a pre-Halloween release on October 25, 2024. Production on “Wolf Man” began just a week ago.