While we’ve seen a lot of great original horror movies in 2025, there’s no doubt that it’s been yet another year filled with reboots and sequels. From 28 Years Later and Final Destination Bloodlines, to I Know What You Did Last Summer and M3GAN 2.0, franchise hits have been everywhere, and we’re not done yet. However, while those all managed to scare up big box office dollars, there is one reboot that fizzled long before it even had a chance, but now it’s finding redemption on streaming thanks to Prime Video.
Released on Jan. 17, 2025, Wolf Man showed so much promise on paper. It had an interesting hook, some fantastic actors, the backing of Blumhouse and Universal, and a competent director in Leigh Whannell, whose reboot of The Invisible Man in 2020 was a massive hit. There was no reason to think that Wolf Man would be anything other than a box-office smash, but, sadly, it barely made back its budget of $25 million, taking in just $35.3 million in receipts.
A number of factors played into Wolf Man’s box office demise, not the least of which was a marketing misstep a few months prior to its release when one of the film’s creature designs was revealed at Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights attraction. It was absolutely torn apart online by fans who questioned everything about the movie from that point forward, which no doubt affected its performance. While the trailers tried to earn back some good will by presenting it as a chilling mix of body horror and family drama, it sadly wasn’t enough to bring the naysayers back.
‘Wolf Man’ Failed to Deliver What Its Name Promised
Julia Garner and Christopher Abbott in Wolf Man.
Universal
A January release didn’t exactly help matters much either, nor did word of mouth. Once the film finally premiered, and it began to spread that the reboot lacked the same tension and suspense that made The Invisible Man so good, folks that were on the fence about seeing it decided to stay away.
You can’t really blame them, either. When you name your movie Wolf Man, there’s a certain level of expectation that comes with that thanks to the strong legacy the title holds, and unfortunately, Whannell’s efforts fell flat in their execution. It was more an exploration of generational trauma than it was a werewolf movie in the classic sense of the term, and audiences weren’t having it. It removed the supernatural underpinnings that had been used for generations in favor of presenting lycanthropy as a virus instead of a supernatural curse, and that modern twist failed to connect with viewers looking for a more traditional story. One can’t help but wonder if the version that once had Ryan Gosling attached to it would have fared much better, but it certainly couldn’t have been worse.
Called “meaningless, silly and thoughtless” by some and “cringey and awkward” by others, Wolf Man holds an audience score of just 55% on Rotten Tomatoes, while its critical rating sits even lower at 48%. Still, despite all the negativity surrounding it, Wolf Man has managed to claw its way back to redemption on Prime Video, where it now sits at #5 on the list of Top 10 movies in the United States per Flix Patrol, sandwiched in between Jason Statham’s Wrath of Man, and another, more successful reboot, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.
3
/5
Release Date
January 15, 2025
Runtime
103 minutes
Director
Leigh Whannell
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