Before the masterclass in how not to launch your own shared universe that was 2017’s The Mummy, before even the anemic Dracula Untold (2014), Universal attempted to reheat another of their classic horror properties with 2010’s The Wolfman. And, yes, naturally it was a total stinker. That said, the little-remembered reboot is killing it on streaming right now, having hiked 21 places up the global Netflix charts today, according to Flix Patrol.
On paper, The Wolfman had a lot going for it. With Jumanji and future Captain America: The First Avenger filmmaker Joe Johnston in the director’s chair and an A-list cast headed by Benicio del Toro — an actor so naturally wolflike he might actually be a real-life lycanthrope himself — the film should’ve been a recipe for success. Unfortunately, this is one of the many occasions where a movie’s production troubles are written all over the finished product.
Johnston only came aboard the picture just four weeks before filming began, after original helmer Marl Romanek departed due to clashes with the studio. Apparently execs didn’t learn their lesson as a lengthy period of reshoots turned the gig into a chore for Johnston, too, not to mention inflating the exorbitant budget. In the end, The Wolfman cost Universal around $150 million to make but brought home a mere $142.6 million at the box office.
But, hey, money doesn’t matter if a movie’s got critical acclaim, right? Well, unfortunately this one got neither. On Rotten Tomatoes, The Wolfman sits at a howlingly bad 33 percent. Interestingly, while critics prefer it to The Mummy — which sits at a paltry 15 percent on the site — horror fans actually rate the Tom Cruise disaster slightly higher at 35 percent. When whatever the hell Russell Crowe was doing as Mr. Hyde is the better option, that’s when you know you’ve got a bad film on your hands.