Wolf Man has had an unpromising global debut. The Universal monster remake follows a man (Christopher Abbott) whose lycanthropic transformation threatens the lives of his wife (Julia Garner) and daughter (Matilda Firth), who are trapped in a house with him. The Blumhouse movie was directed by Leigh Whannell, who previously helmed the 2020 remake The Invisible Man to great critical and commercial success. The Wolf Man release began during the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday weekend, taking No. 3 at the domestic box office behind the 2024 hit Mufasa: The Lion King and the comedy One of Them Days.

Per Variety, as of Sunday morning, Wolf Man is projected to close out its opening weekend with a worldwide box office gross of $15.3 million. This total comes from an underwhelming $4.83 million haul from 53 international markets, combined with a roughly $10.5 million 3-day domestic total. While the MLK Day holiday weekend sees its domestic projections hit $12 million by the end of Monday, the U.S. holiday will not affect its overseas grosses. This global debut pales in comparison to Whannell’s The Invisible Man, which earned $28.2 million during its domestic opening weekend alone in late February 2020.

What This Means For Wolf Man

It May Never Catch Up

The new movie debuting below The Invisible Man makes sense, considering their vastly different critical receptions. Mixed Wolf Man reviews earned the movie a middling Rotten Tomatoes score of 53% while the 2020 film maintains a Certified Fresh Rotten Tomatoes score of 91%. That may have kept some viewers away from theaters, but its future may be just as grim. Its audience score is 58% at the time of writing, compared to The Invisible Man‘s 88%, showing that the new movie will probably be unable to rely on word of mouth.

While The Invisible Man was hampered by worldwide theatrical closures amid the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, it was still able to gross $144.5 million worldwide before the end of its run. At its current trajectory, it seems unlikely that the Wolf Man remake will even be able to hit a worldwide gross of more than $65 million. This could be immensely damaging, as its $25 million budget is a huge increase from The Invisible Man‘s $7 million, likely placing its break-even point somewhere around $62.5 million.

Our Take On The Wolf Man Debut

Blumhouse Can Still Turn 2025 Around

Wolf Man has not lived up to its potential to redeem Blumhouse’s lukewarm 2024, which saw the releases of the profitable but poorly reviewed тιтles Imaginary and Night Swim as well as the out-and-out flop AfrAId. However, 2025 could still turn around for the production company. Their 2025 roster includes the franchise movies M3GAN 2.0, The Black Phone 2, and Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, all of which have the potential to become solid hits like their predecessors and boost Blumhouse’s prospects after the Universal monster remake’s misfire.

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Source: Variety