Universal's 'The Werewolf' Reboot Has a Release Date & New Synopsis

Reboot, why?!Universal Pictures announced earlier today that principal photography on a new werewolf movie, which will reboot Benicio Del Toro's version The Wolfman has begun.  The Werewolf is currently being filmed on location in Bucharest, Romania and is being slated for a DVD and Blu-Ray release next Halloween.  The studio also released the first official plot synopsis for The Werewolf.

Plot:  During his studies with the local doctor (Stephen Rea), Daniel (Guy Wilson) witnesses the horrific consequences of werewolf attacks.

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Box Office - 'Shutter Island' is Scorcese's Best Debut

Coming off bigger than initially reported Friday receipts, Shutter Island cruised to an easy box office win this weekend, more than doubling its next closest competition. The $40 million three-day frame is by far the best in Martin Scorsese's career, and it marks a new record for Leonardo DiCaprio, as well.

The thriller might have a good 14-day run before Alice in Wonderland arrives; I'm not sure of the box office potential for either Cop Out or The Crazies, especially if Shutter Island hovers around 50% returns next weekend. That could be an interesting race. However, between this past Friday and next Friday, the film will be over $50 million in its first week, a great beginning for a movie shelved for nearly half a year. Big drops for Valentine's Day, Percy Jackson, and The Wolfman, which included a surprising 70% freefall for Valentine's Day. How a movie can start with $66 million in four days and look like it won't make it to $130 million just a week later is beyond me. I guess it served its limited purpose for the holiday weekend, but we're looking at a movie that made $23 million a week ago today that will need about two more full weeks to make that much again.

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Box Office - Big Start for Scorsese's 'Shutter Island'

This will be the biggest box office weekend in Martin Scorsese's career. Unfortunately, that's not saying much: Only two film has ever debuted with more $10 million. The Departed is his only movie that even looks like it had a real opening weekend. But now there's Shutter Island, and it appears that good reviews and lots of public interest will make it a hit.

Last night, Shutter Island accumulated $13.5 million, which sets the film up for a mid-30s weekend. It could even be a little more than that; I'm a big believer in Friday word-of-mouth leading to bigger Saturdays, particularly in a text message/Twiter/Facebook culture that allows an opinion to spread like wildfire. So if Saturday matches or beats Friday, because the word-of-mouth should be excellent, then this might do closer to $40 million. If you're wondering how much it would take to make a profit with this film, only one source I can find, Dark Horizons, has any budget information available - $80 million. Seems about right. The Departed was slightly more than that. It's probably under $100 million, in any case. So based on the opening weekend, this will be in the black in probably two more weeks, and then you've got foreign box office, always substantial for Scorsese, to take care of the incidentals and deliver the real profit.

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'Twilight' Fan Blasts Universal for Stealing 'Wolfman'

Prepare yourself for the greatest thing ever. I have no reason to doubt the veractiy of Latino Review on this but even if it's not the genuine article, it should be. I'd like to believe it is.

Here's the story: Twihard Kayla Patterson sent an e-mail to Universal accusing the studio of not only stealing the werewolf idea for The Wolfman from Twilight, she's also peeved that it's such a cheap imitation of Jacob Black's animal side. More than anything, I think she's just in love with Taylor Lautner. She's missing, of course, that The Wolfman is not just a remake of Universal's 70-year-old movie, but that the creature has a long history in folklore and film, and that it certainly was not created by Stephenie Meyer, nor is the New Moon werewolf its high point. In fact, it's the worst thing about New Moon, while we're on the subject. As silly as this is, Kayla does get one thing right: "If I made this movie, I would be ashamed to even admit that I owned it." Hard to argue with that. Enjoy the letter:

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Box Office - Happy 'Valentine's Day'

Even before we factor in Monday's box office numbers - which should still be quite good for a movie engineered specifically for this four-day period - Valentine's Day has had a major impact on the box office. There's a slim chance the rom-com could hit $65 million between Friday and Monday, based on the latest estimates that put the film well ahead of the pack at $52 million through Sunday.

Looking at the daily estimates, you might be surprised to learn that Valentine's Day is peaking on Sunday. Most movies don't do that, especially films that start as strong as this one did, plus, movies aren't - shall we say - the most romantic option for Valentine's Day. I thought this would make most of its money leading into Sunday with some carryover on Monday for people who made other other plans today. We'll keep an eye on that daily total when the actual numbers roll in. It will be a record weekend, too, thanks to the strong openings by Percy Jackson and the Olympians and The Wolfman, which have been neck-and-neck ever since their opening days. Right now, Percy has about a half-million-dollar lead in the estimates, and both should finish the four-day weekend on the high end between $35 and $40 million.

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