(L to R) Greg Focker (Ben Stiller) and Jack Byrnes (Robert De Niro) in ‘Focker In-Law’, written and directed by John Hamburg. Photo: Universal Pictures.
Preview:
Universal made its big presentation to the 2026 CinemaCon crowd.
Among the movies promoted were ‘Disclosure Day’ and ‘The Odyssey’.
There was also a look at ‘Minions & Monsters’ and ‘Other Mommy’.
Universal had a more muted and mixed 2025 than some other studios –– the latest ‘Jurassic World’ outing was a hit, but other titles, including thriller sequel ‘M3GAN 2.0’ stumbled.
Matt Damon is Odysseus in ‘The Odyssey’, written, produced, and directed by Christopher Nolan. Photo: Universal Pictures.
Christopher Nolan’s epic, based on Homer’s story, was somewhat naturally the first big movie featured. Starring half of Hollywood, it promises to be massive in scale and ambitious in scope.
The filmmaker himself took the stage to talk up his latest, joking that he’s glad he doesn’t have to follow Steven Spielberg. ‘The Odyssey’ is not, he says a story. It’s THE story, one he knew he had to shoot entirely in IMAX.
He praised his ensemble, especially Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway and Tom Holland, who he called the heart of the film. Oh, and it was a “nightmare to make in the best way possible,” but he’s nearly finished.
More than five minutes of new footage from the movie was shown, including a shipwrecked Odysseus (Damon) washing up on a shore, where he’s greeted by the goddess Calypso, played by Charlize Theron, asking her about his past life which he cannot remember, and a battle from the Trojan war and the iconic Trojan Horse.
Illumination has been a consistent performer for Universal, its animated output boosting studio coffers. So of course the team were present to pimp the next ‘Minions’ movie featuring the little yellow troublemakers.
It’s set in the 1920s and features the Minions trying to find a new master to serve. Pierre Coffin, who co-writes, directs and voices the creatures, told the crowd that he put everything into the new one, before introducing some fresh footage.
The next film to get a brief spotlight was romantic comedy drama ‘One Night Only’, which stars Callum Turner and Monica Barbaro as two New Yorkers searching for love on the one night of the year when sex is legal.
The initial teaser for the horror movie, starring Jessica Chastain, was shown. It features Bela (Arabella Olivia Clark), an 8-year-old girl living in a home with marital problems, confronts a sinister entity that comes out of her closet. The presence, whom she calls “Other Mommy,” becomes increasingly threatening to her and her family.
Next up was a quick look at ‘Violent Night 2’, the sequel to the 2022 action comedy with David Harbour as a grumpy Santa who takes down armed thieves. The 2026 follow-up adds Kristen Bell as Mrs. Claus in a story where Santa somehow ends up on the Naughty List.
(L to R) Jack Byrnes (Robert De Niro) and Olivia Jones (Ariana Grande) in ‘Focker In-Law’, written and directed by John Hamburg. Photo: Universal Pictures.
Getting more of a spotlight was the new ‘Meet the Parents’ outing, which sees Ariana Grande as a young woman looking to marry into Ben Stiller‘s family (and Stiller’s Greg Focker is suspicious of her).
Stiller and Robert De Niro took the stage to introduce a first look, with De Niro commenting that Grande is the funniest scene partner he’s ever had. Ouch!
Also featured? A look at ‘Nosferatu’ director Robert Eggers‘ next chiller, ‘Werwulf’, which follows a gothic world where townsfolk are investigating a brutal werewolf terrifying their town.
Emily Blunt in ‘Disclosure Day’, directed by Steven Spielberg. Photo: Universal Pictures.
‘Disclosure Day’s Colman Domingo arrived on stage to introduce his director, Steven Spielberg, who is getting a special award from CinemaCon (along with a sizzle reel of past work and a standing ovation from the audience).
The iconic filmmaker took the chance to argue for longer release windows, which naturally plays well with this crowd.
He also sat down with Domingo to discuss his own movie-watching history, his father’s belief in life beyond our world, his own thoughts on aliens and his time making this latest effort.
New footage was shown (though Spielberg said he was keeping every frame of the third act withheld until the movie itself is released), with plenty of tense action.
“It is an experience, this movie,” Spielberg promised. “All you need to get from the beginning to the end is a seat belt.”
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And with that, it’s a wrap on Universal!
‘Focker In-Law’ opens in theaters on November 25th.
Details remain scarce on this one since Eggers has yet to reveal much, but he wrote ‘Werwulf’ with Sjón, who co-wrote violent Viking saga ‘The Northman’ with the filmmaker.
‘Werwulf is’ described as a werewolf horror film set in 13th century England and is set to feature Old English dialogue.
Taylor-Johnson is reportedly set to play the titular werewolf, with Depp as his wife. The script reportedly features elements of witchcraft and is described as one of Eggers’ goriest projects to date. While the director at one point was considering shooting the film in black and white, he has now apparently dropped that idea.
The cameras are expected to begin rolling this September.
Aboard to produce are Christopher Columbus –– yes, the ‘Harry Potter’ and ‘Home Alone’ director –– and his daughter Eleanor, who through their company Maiden Voyage Pictures, have been partnering with Eggers since his first film and were involved with shepherding ‘Nosferatu’ to screens.
Since Eggers and Focus saw such success with the seemingly strange Christmas Day release slot for ‘Nosferatu’ last year, they’re trying again, with ‘Werwulf’ targeting December 25th, 2026 as the date on which it will look to terrify audiences. Hairy Christmas!
(Left) ‘Nosferatu’ director Robert Eggers. (Right) Michael Caine and the Muppets in ‘The Muppet Christmas Carol’. Photo: Buena Vista Pictures Distribution.
Preview:
Robert Eggers has his eye on ‘A Christmas Carol.’
He’s aiming to have Willem Dafoe play iconic miser Scrooge.
The movie is in development at Warner Bros.
Writer/director Robert Eggers delivered a very different sort of festive treat last year with vampire tale ‘Nosferatu’, which was released on Christmas Day, and has since gone on to be his biggest success so far, earning plenty of critical praise and Oscar nominations, plus $181 million worldwide at the box office, including $95 million domestically.
And from the sound of a report by Deadline, he’s looking to stay in a festive mood, with a future plan to go where hundreds of filmmakers have gone before. No, not ‘Star Trek,’ but an adaptation of Charles Dickens’ classic story ‘A Christmas Carol.’
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It’s early days for this one, which is in development at Warner Brothers (somewhat surprising given that much of Eggers’ prior output has been for Universal arm Focus Features), and little word on what his plan is to make the story his own, but Deadline mentions a less-than-shocking early casting choice.
While no official offers have gone out, it appears Eggers is ready to work again with Willem Dafoe, who has appeared in every one of the director’s movies since ‘The Lighthouse.’ If Eggers has his way, Dafoe will play Scrooge, the central figure of ‘Christmas Carol’ (more on that below).
1992’s ‘The Muppet Christmas Carol.’ Photo: Walt Disney Pictures.
If you haven’t heard of ‘A Christmas Carol,’ we can only assume you’ve somehow been buried beneath a fallen festive tree.
Dickens’ novella was first published in London by Chapman & Hall in 1843 and illustrated by John Leech.
It’s the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, a man whose life has led to him becoming an elderly miser with no time for Christmas traditions or even much human empathy.
A shrewd businessman, he thrives on evicting tenants from the properties he owns and keeps his clerk, Bob Cratchit, working in poverty and cold conditions.
One Christmas Eve, he’s visited by the specter of his dead business partner, Jacob Marley, who warns him that he must change his ways, lest he suffer the same fate as Marley: condemned to wander the world as a spirit, wrapped in chains and heavy, ghostly cash boxes.
Marley has organized a redemptive chance for Scrooge –– he’ll encounter three further spirits, representing Christmas Past, Present and Future, all of whom show him visions intended to teach him the lessons of Christmas.
Scrooge scoffs at the idea, but on his journey with the three ghosts, he sees where his life choices have led him, his negative impact on the world now, and what that might mean going forward.
Spoiler alert! He’s terrified and chastened, resolving to do better in future, and indeed becomes, in Dickens’ words, “as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man, as the good old city knew, or any other good old city, town, or borough, in the good old world.”
Dickens’ work is a moral fable, at once embracing the Christmas traditions (carols, cards and more) that were becoming popular at the time, and helping to spread them further.
It has been adapted countless times for screens both big and small, including famous versions such as a 1951 movie starring Alastair Sim, a 1984 TV movie with George C. Scott, and Robert Zemeckis’ 2009 performance capture CG take, in which Jim Carrey plays Scrooge and a variety of other characters.
What Eggers has planned remains to be seen, though we’d hazard a guess at fewer singing vegetables and more of a mood along the likes of the dark 2019 TV adaptation from Steven Knight, with Guy Pearce playing Scrooge.
Dafoe feels like a solid choice for Scrooge, but will the director maintain another recent tradition and hire a Skarsgård for a role? There are plenty of others in the family waiting in the wings after Alexander appeared in ‘The Northman’ and Bill buried himself under prosthetics for ‘Nosferatu.’
Eggers has been juggling a few projects, but it appears that ‘Werwulf’ is at the front of the line. We don’t know much about the movie, but the title certainly points to some hairy, howling horror.
Elsewhere, he’s got a few other movies bubbling away.
“[Medieval movie ‘The Knight’ is] on a shelf with a lot of screenplays. I have five things going on, because you never know what’s going to work, what’s going to appeal to people, what’s going to be greenlit. This movie [‘Nosferatu’] was not greenlit three times. I absolutely thought I was making a movie that has not gotten greenlit twice instead of this, so you never know. You’ve got to have a lot of stuff going on.”
There is also a sequel to 1986 fantasy adventure ‘Labyrinth’, which is still floating around somewhere.
When would Robert Eggers’ ‘A Christmas Carol’ haunt theaters?
This is the first anyone has heard of Eggers’ plan to adapt the Christmas tale, and with ‘Werwulf’ most likely the next project for the filmmaker to shoot, we’re expecting to wait at least a couple of years for ‘A Christmas Carol’ to find screens –– assuming it doesn’t get leapfrogged by another project.
Right now, ‘Werwulf’ is scheduled for release in the ‘Nosferatu’ slot, which is to say December 25th, in 2026.
(L to R) Alexander Skarsgard, Nicole Kidman, director Robert Eggers, Willem Dafoe, and Anya Taylor-Joy at the Los Angeles premiere of ‘The Northman.’
Filmmaker Robert Eggers has announced his next film.
He’ll write and direct werewolf tale ‘Werwulf.’
It should be in theaters on Christmas Day, 2026.
While it may not have quite the same box office footprint as, say, ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ or ‘Inside Out 2,’ Robert Eggers’ latest slice of historical horror certainly performed for the director, with a $40 million five-day opening, doubling industry expectations.
‘Nosferatu‘ has scared up more than $156 million worldwide and become Eggers’ highest-grossing movie to date, not to mention one of the more successful horror offerings of 2024.
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And now, via The Hollywood Reporter, we have word on what he wants to do next. Eggers is teaming back up with Universal’s indie genre arm Focus Features to craft ‘Werwulf,’ which as the name suggests, will see some terrifying transformations.
It’s certainly a challenge, even for a filmmaker as accomplished as Eggers since werewolves have not had the easiest time of it at the box office. The most recent howling horror to try, Leigh Whannel’s ‘Wolf Man,’ failed to take a bite out of ticket sales, with just $17 million worldwide so far after a little less than a week on release.
(L to R) Alexander Skarsgard, Nicole Kidman, director Robert Eggers, Willem Dafoe, and Anya Taylor-Joy at the Los Angeles premiere of ‘The Northman.’
Details remain scarce on this one since Eggers has yet to reveal much, but he wrote ‘Werwulf’ with Sjón, who co-wrote violent Viking saga ‘The Northman’ with the filmmaker.
The Reporter’s sources say the story is set in 13th century England. The script also features dialogue that was true to the time period and has translations and annotations for those uninitiated in Old English.
Eggers, in keeping with his love of stylish and creepy filmmaking, had originally intended to shoot the movie in black & white, though that has reportedly now been dropped.
Aboard to produce are Christopher Columbus –– yes, the ‘Harry Potter’ and ‘Home Alone’ director –– and his daughter Eleanor, who through their company Maiden Voyage Pictures, have been partnering with Eggers since his first film and were involved with shepherding ‘Nosferatu’ to screens.
Not one to have just one project in the works at any one time, Eggers is juggling multiple possibilities, looking for whichever one is moved forward. It would appear ‘Werwulf’ has leapfrogged several others.
Here’s what Eggers told Indiewire about the process:
“[Medieval movie ‘The Knight’ is] on a shelf with a lot of screenplays. I have five things going on, because you never know what’s going to work, what’s going to appeal to people, what’s going to be greenlit. This movie [‘Nosferatu’] was not greenlit three times. I absolutely thought I was making a movie that has not gotten greenlit twice instead of this, so you never know. You’ve got to have a lot of stuff going on.”
Other projects that fell by the wayside include a Rasputin miniseries. And away from horror, Eggers reportedly would like to tackle a Western one day, having spent summers with his grandfather in Wyoming.
And this is what Eggers has said about his career to date:
“‘The Witch,’ proud of it, but I was frustrated that I wasn’t able to get what was in my head onto the screen. ‘The Lighthouse’ was a perfect stepping stone where I felt like I was able to do that. And ’The Northman,’ because the scope and scale was so massive, it was harder for me to do the same. It was a beast, a big learning experience, I’ve said this before, after making ‘The Northman,’ I finally felt like I know how to direct a movie, like I’m not trying to convince people that I know how to direct a movie. I’m not someone who has a lot of ideas and just hoping that it’s going to work. That gave me the tools to finally feel confident as a director, so it was nice going into ‘Nosferatu’ with that feeling.”
Casting has yet to be announced at this point, though Eggers tends to inspire loyalty in his cast no matter the sticky (usually bloody) situations he thrusts them into.
Willem Dafoe, meanwhile, has so far cropped up in ‘The Lighthouse,’ ‘The Northman’ and ‘Nosferatu’ and we know Eggers considers him a kindred spirit, so there’s a chance he’ll make it a fourth time should schedules allow and the right role is in the ‘Werwulf’ script. And let’s be honest: who doesn’t want to see Dafoe going through a scary, hairy transmogrification!
We’ll have to wait and see at this point, though.
When will ‘Werwulf’ howl into cinemas?
Since Eggers and Focus saw such success with the seemingly strange Christmas Day release slot for ‘Nosferatu’ last year, they’re trying again, with ‘Werwulf’ targeting December 25th, 2026 as the date on which it will look to terrify audiences. Hairy Christmas!
(Left) Director Robert Eggers on the set of his film ‘Nosferatu’, a Focus Features release. (Right) David Bowie as Jareth in ‘Labyrinth.’ Photo: The Jim Henson Company. Copyright: Labyrinth Enterprises.
Preview:
Robert Eggers is reportedly to make a new ‘Labyrinth’ movie.
The likes of Scott Derrickson and Fede Álvarez have been attached in the past.
The 1986 original starred Jennifer Connelly and David Bowie.
Writer/director Robert Eggers has his most recent stab at celluloid fear, ‘Nosferatu’ on screens at the moment. The movie, a new version of what was a bootleg take on ‘Dracula’ features some truly creepy character work and both psychological and physical horror.
Given that, and his history with movies such as ‘The Witch,’ ‘The Northman’ and ‘The Lighthouse,’ he might not appear to be the first person you’d think to tackling a remake of a film originally brought to screens by Muppet maestro Jim Henson, which for all its scarier themes, is mostly a family fantasy adventure.
(L to R) David Bowie as Jareth and Jennifer Connelly as Sarah in ‘Labyrinth.’ Photo: The Jim Henson Company. Copyright: Labyrinth Enterprises.
The original movie was directed by Henson and naturally features a fair amount of fresh felt creations from his workshop.
Jennifer Connelly stars as Sarah Williams, a teenager forced by her father and stepmother to babysit her baby stepbrother, Toby, while they are out.
The child will not stop crying, and Sarah wishes that he would be taken away. Out of the blue, he stops crying and when she looks for him in his crib, she learns that her wish was granted, and the Goblin King Jareth (David Bowie) has taken him to his castle in the Goblin City in the middle of a labyrinth. Sarah repents and asks Jareth to give him back, but Jareth tells her that she has to rescue him before midnight.
Sarah finds some willing allies, but the question remains… Will they rescue Toby in time?
Henson came up with the original story alongside Dennis Lee, and script duties were handed over to Monty Python member Terry Jones (with Elaine May contributing an uncredited polish to boost the characters and humor of Sarah and Jareth).
Eggers considering the new movie might not be as strange as it sounds, as Sony and the Jim Henson Company (run by Henson’s daughter, Lisa) has had horror filmmakers attached in the past.
There have been loose plans to make a new ‘Labyrinth’ film for several years, though a direct sequel would certainly seem to be a tough ask given the death of Bowie in 2016. The challenge of finding someone who could channel his unique energy is surely a huge one.
At one point, ‘Alien: Romulus’ filmmaker Fede Álvarez was planning to direct before he announced in 2020 that he had stepped down. At the time, it was reported that the project was still moving forward with ‘Doctor Strange’ and ‘The Black Phone’ director Scott Derrickson taking over at the helm.
Yet Derrickson revealed last year that his version had stalled at the script stage. Here’s what he told Comicbook.com:
“I don’t know what’s happening with that. We never got the script all the way to a place where the studio wanted to make it, but I was very proud of the work that we did on it. And it’s a hard, hard project to turn into something commercially viable, because it’s so imaginative and surreal that there’s no way that it can be done cheaply. And at the same time, it’s so daring and different that it is a tough movie for a studio to feel competent that it has enough commercial value to earn a profit. So I think that it’s a tough nut to crack, but all I can tell you is I’m very proud of the work that we did on it. We certainly had a great film in mind. Because the project is still in development, I probably shouldn’t say… I think we had a really cool idea, but I don’t want to blow that in case the movie does get made.”
While the issue of Bowie remains up in the air, Connelly has said that she at least had conversations about returning, though she admitted to Collider that she wasn’t sure where the movie was going to land.
“That’s a question you have to ask my sister. My sister Lisa, who’s CEO of the Jim Henson Company. That is a project that we are very excited about, but we can’t talk about it.”
Nothing official has yet been said about Eggers’ involvement, nor whether he’ll look to make a legacy sequel or re-imagine the original (as he has with his atmospheric ‘Nosferatu’), but we’d certainly be intrigued to see what might result. Does anyone have a set of juggling crystal balls we can use to get a glimpse?
When will then new ‘Labyrinth’ be in theaters?
‘Labyrinth’ is available for purchase or to rent on digital beginning February 6th.
With the film still seemingly stuck in development limbo, we’re not even going to guess at this point when it might head to theaters.
But if Eggers can actually make it happen, then it has a stronger chance than ever of actually getting to screens.
Opening in theaters on December 25th is ‘Nosferatu’, which is a remake of the classic 1922 German film, which itself was loosely based on Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel ‘Dracula’.
Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with filmmaker Robert Eggers in an extended interview about his work on ‘Nosferatu’, why he wanted to make the movie, his love for the original, the look of the new film, visual vs. practical effects, Bill Skarsgård and Lily-Rose Depp’s performances, why he loves working with Willem Dafoe, why he will never make a modern movie, and what he learned from making this project.
You can read the full interview below or click on the video player above to watch our interview.
Moviefone: To begin with, can you talk about your fascination with the source material, why you wanted to remake this film, and how you wanted to do it differently than what we’ve seen before from this genre?
Robert Eggers: I mean, I saw F. W. Murnau‘s ‘Nosferatu’ that was made in 1922 when I was nine years old, and I watched on a VHS that was made from a degraded 16-millimeter print and there was a way in which the world and the vampire played by Max Schreck just seemed real and unearthed from the past and I was just totally transported to that world. I also loved that it turned Bram Stoker’s novel into a very simple fairy tale. So, I’ve been obsessed with ‘Nosferatu’ most of my life, but it’s not enough to be obsessed and love something there. You must have a reason to do it again. I thought that if I could tell the story through the eyes of the female protagonist, through Lily-Rose Depp’s character, that there would be a greater chance for the film to have more emotional and psychological depth because yes, it is a scary horror movie with a lot of dread and even some jump scares. But more than that, it is a tale of love and obsession and a Gothic romance. The other central thing that is very different from other versions is that over the years, vampires have become less and less and less scary, climaxing with Edward Cullen (‘Twilight’) and in order to make the vampire in the film scary again, I turned to folklore that was written about and by people who believe that vampires were real and were terrified of them and these folk vampires are walking undead, putrid corpses. So, then I asked myself, “What would a dead Transylvanian nobleman actually look like” and thus we created what Bill Skarsgård’s vampire is in this film.
MF: Did you only take inspiration from the original ‘Nosferatu’, or did you also draw from the ‘Dracula’ novel and other interpretations of the character?
RE: I mean, it’s everything. It’s very much the history of vampire films in general, but I’m inspired by all kinds of Gothic literature and Edgar Allan Poe, black and white Gothic movies from the 1930s to the 1960s, and art house Polish movies from the ’70s. I mean, the influences are massive. Even Mel Brooks‘ ‘Dracula: Dead and Loving’. It was helpful to see what are the mistakes that every Dracula movie has. That parody points them out, so you know not to make those mistakes.
MF: Can you talk about Bill Skarsgård’s performance and the specific way you wanted Count Orlok to look in the film?
RE: I mean, Bill’s incredibly transformative as Count Orlok. There’s no trace of Bill Skarsgård in the movie. He worked with an opera singer to lower his voice an octave. He has this incredibly low, powerful voice that if you’ve heard Bill speak, Bill speaks in a tenor voice like mine, and you would assume that we digitally manipulated it. But no, Bill trained and that is his performance and the prosthetics that took six hours to apply and then his utter transformation for Bill to disappear and the darkness to take over and him to become Count Orlok is quite impressive.
MF: Can you talk about your use of practical vs. visual effect in the film?
RE: There are certainly plenty of visual effects in the movie, but I try to do as many things practically as possible and, the things that you might expect to be visual effects, those are the things that I particularly would like to do practically. All of Bill’s makeup is done practically. There are thousands and thousands of rats in the film and the thousands of rats that would be in the foreground of the shot are real. The wolves are real. We built over 60 sets, including a massive backlog set of a northern German town.
MF: Can you also talk about the production design and the specific look of the film?
RE: Yeah, I mean, the reality of these sets is quite shocking. We talk about the finishes in the movie industry and when you’re in the middle of Orlok’s Great Hall in the castle, even without the lighting, it looks completely real. It’s wild.
MF: What was it like working with Lily-Rose Depp, and can you talk about her performance and her character’s descent into madness?
RE: Lily-Rose Depp’s performance is quite jaw-dropping, and so amazing. When I first met with her, I felt that she just understood the character so well and then she did this incredibly powerful audition that left me and the casting director and even the videographer who didn’t have anything invested in it in tears. But Ellen’s character has a sort of knowledge, a sort of insight into the dark realm, another realm, and she’s dealing with the demons that are inside of her and this vampire that’s after her. She does this incredible body work where she sometimes is having seizures and sometimes having, going through these wild acts of possession. She worked tirelessly with a movement coach on doing all these incredible body movements that also help these shocking emotions to arise. But again, the stuff that she does with her body, you would think would be CG manipulated or we would be using wire work, but it’s all her. She gives a tremendous performance.
MF: This is the third movie in a row you’ve made with Willem Dafoe. What do you like about working with him and is he your lucky charm at this point?
RE: I mean, Willem Dafoe is a legend. He’s one of the greatest actors of all time and I feel so joyful and thankful and humbled that Willem likes to work with me and keeps coming back. But obviously, he has this power and a sense of humor and a fire about him that makes all his roles so compelling. Here, as a slightly crazed vampire hunter occultist, it’s particularly enjoyable.
MF: All your films are period pieces. What do you like about making those types of movies and do you ever see yourself making a modern set film?
RE: Well, it’s more fun for me to do the research and to create these worlds. I live in a world of cell phones and toilets and dishwashers. I don’t need to make movies about it. It’s boring. How cool is it that I am dreaming about a castle for 10 years and then I get to stand inside the castle of my imagination? That is so much cooler than shooting a scene in a men’s room with someone looking at their cell phone.
MF: Finally, this is a movie you’ve wanted to make for a while, how does it feel now that you’ve accomplished that and what have you learned from this experience?
RE: I’m proud of what me and all my collaborators were able to accomplish. I’ve been working with the same creative heads of department for years and we’ve become further extensions of each, and we challenge each other, and we grow together. After so long, it’s not just my vision that we’ve articulated, but a collective vision and that is wonderful. But you also feel a little vulnerable because when it’s something that is this important to you, that’s kind of a strange feeling. But I’m eager for audiences to come to movie theaters and get transported into this world and enjoy ‘Nosferatu’, hopefully.
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What is the plot of ‘Nosferatu’?
Set in 1838 in Germany, Nosferatu follows the obsession between a haunted young woman, Ellen Hutter (Lily-Rise Depp), and the ancient Transylvanian vampire stalking her, Count Orlok (Bill Skarsgård), leading to untold horror.
Director and writer Robert Eggers has wanted to remake ‘Nosferatu’ even before his stunning debut, ‘The Witch,’ came out in 2016. The silent 1922 original from director F.W. Murnau is one of the landmarks of both horror cinema and German Expressionist film, while Werner Herzog’s 1979 version is both an update of the material and a tribute to the Murnau classic.
Now Eggers has delivered his interpretation of the material, which itself is an adaptation of the Bram Stoker novel ‘Dracula’ in everything but name (the short version: Murnau could not get the rights to the book from Stoker’s widow, so he changed all the names and filmed it anyway). Eggers, our reigning master of period horror thanks to the likes of ‘The Witch’ and ‘The Lighthouse’ (2019), has incorporated elements of both previous versions into his film, along with aspects of ‘Bram Stoker’s Dracula’ (the 1992 Francis Ford Coppola movie) and even nods to other horror cornerstones like ‘The Exorcist’ and Mario Bava’s ‘Black Sabbath.’
Eggers’ dark fantasia may quickly become a modern horror classic in its own right: The macabre, surreal ‘Nosferatu’ is steeped in dread and a thick atmosphere of death and decay, featuring a terrifying monster – played by an unrecognizable Bill Skarsgård (Pennywise in ‘It’) – who proclaims that he is a primal force of evil (“I am an appetite, nothing more”) while emanating a despair and even loneliness that makes his corruption all the more palpable.
Set in 1838, ‘Nosferatu’ follows the basic plot that should be familiar to both readers of the original novel and generations of viewers who have watched cinematic variations on the tale, with a new wrinkle right from the onset: when we first meet the “melancholy” (as people suffering from depression and other clinical disorders were described back then) Ellen (Lily-Rose Depp), she is a young woman plagued by terrible dreams and loneliness and desperate to make contact with something divine. Her slight touch of paranormal ability – branded “hysteria” – does indeed awaken something far, far away, but about as far from the angelic as one could imagine.
Years later, Ellen is married to up-and-coming estate agent Thomas Hutter (Nicholas Hoult) and has seemingly gotten control of her mental and emotional issues thanks to her newfound happiness. But dark thoughts begin to intrude when Thomas announces that at the behest of his employer, Herr Knock (Simon McBurney), he must travel from their home in Wisborg, Germany to the distant land of Transylvania, where he is to close a deal for an elderly but extremely wealthy count named Orlok (Bill Skarsgård) to purchase a ruined property in Wisborg that he intends to make his new home. Leaving Ellen in the care of their friends Friedrich and Anna Harding (Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Emma Corrin), Thomas begins the long, arduous journey to Orlok’s castle – where he is met along the way by Romani who insist that he turn back at all costs.
Once at Orlok’s ancient, ominous abode – which seems to spread a literal blanket of decay over the land and everything around it – Thomas quickly realizes that there is something decidedly off about his host, who only appears at night. Orlok, of course, knows that Hutter is married to Ellen – the girl who cried out to him all those years ago – and luring Hutter to his castle while establishing himself in Wisborg is all part of Orlok’s plan to come to the “modern world” and claim her, spreading death and plague in his wake.
If there’s anything that slightly lets ‘Nosferatu’ down, it’s the fact that Eggers’ version – aside from the more explicitly perverse relationship between Ellen and Orlok – doesn’t hold many surprises. As fans of either previous version of ‘Nosferatu’ or many adaptations of ‘Dracula’ itself will know, this more or less follows Stoker’s time-tested narrative. Orlok imprisons and nearly kills Thomas before leaving for Wisborg on a doomed ship; his benefactor there, Knock (aka Renfield), arranges for his arrival while going insane; and as Thomas escapes and attempts to get home, a band of loyal friends, including the Hardings, Dr. Sievers (Ralph Ineson), and eventually the eccentric Dutch doctor/metaphysician Albin Von Franz (Willem Dafoe), join forces to protect Ellen against the peril coming for her and Wisborg, at great danger to themselves.
But while the story is familiar, Eggers drenches it in so much rich detail, thick atmosphere, and powerful malevolence that he perhaps creates the most immersive interpretation yet. And even though his Orlok/Dracula has moments where he is almost pitiable, this is perhaps the most purely monstrous version of the iconic character, an embodiment of evil and living death personified in one amazing shot of the shadow of his hand reaching across the darkened rooftops of Wisborg. “Nosferatu” and “Dracula” itself have always used their central character as a metaphor for many things, but the depravity and destruction he brings with him here are tangible like never before.
Also tangible is the time and place of Eggers’ tale, brought to life by his regular collaborators like production designer Craig Lathrop, DP Jarin Blaschke, and costume designer Linda Muir, who all bring an astonishing level of specificity and tactility to the darkened world of ‘Nosferatu.’ Blaschke in particular pays homage to the many versions of this tale that have come before – an eerie sequence in which Thomas walks through a dead forest as Orlok’s spectral coach approaches to pick him up could have been right out of the Murnau film – while creating a Gothic palette that’s wholly original to this movie.
With his filmography to date, Bill Skarsgård may become a modern Lon Chaney, the silent film star who specialized in grotesques and monsters. He draws upon both the Schreck and Kinski versions of Orlok, as well as Gary Oldman’s Count Dracula, yet provides a wholly new interpretation of the legendary vampire. Aided by incredible makeup from David White and Linda Muir’s costume, Orlok looks like a real 16th century Transylvania nobleman – albeit one that has been decomposing for centuries.
But all the makeup in the world could not do the job if Skarsgård himself didn’t fully inhabit the role, his blazing eyes and genuinely chilling voice delivering the immensity of Orlok’s depravity and even some of his self-pity and existential horror at his own existence. He, Eggers, White, and Muir have created a monster for the ages.
The other big story of this superb cast may be Lily-Rose Depp. Saddled previously with the HBO debacle ‘The Idol,’ Depp makes Ellen the driving force of the story, her unknowing attraction to the darkness battling with her yearning for a normal life and her love for Thomas. It’s that conflict within that makes Ellen come to life, the two sides to her personality also a metaphor for the women of the era – and many other eras – torn between knowing their “station” and forging ahead with lives of their own making. Depp finds both Ellen’s loving nature and her tragic inner self, as well as the darker aspects of her personality that are brought to bear by the presence of Orlok.
Nicholas Hoult’s Thomas is also given more depth here than the usual stalwart hero he’s portrayed as. Thomas starts out as a relative innocent, dedicated to providing for his wife and their life together, but his exposure to the corruption of Orlok changes him permanently. Hoult – who’s already having a hell of a year with ‘Juror #2’ and ‘The Order’ – delivers another solid performance as a man whose entire view of the world and what exists in it is upended with terrible results.
The other actors – Taylor-Johnson and Corrin as the loyal but increasingly frightened and exhausted Hardings, McBurney as the wildly demented Knock, Ineson as the rational Sievers, and of course Eggers regular Dafoe as the peculiar yet commanding Von Franz, round out an ensemble that does justice to each of their characters, all of them bringing an exceptional emotional and psychological commitment to the material.
Not only is ‘Nosferatu’ Robert Eggers’ most personal of his four films to date, a masterful retelling of a classic tale, and an achievement that secures his place among modern horror auteurs like Guillermo del Toro and Mike Flanagan, but it also resets the cinematic depiction of the vampire.
‘Nosferatu’ returns the monster to its ancient roots, particularly that of the Romanian strigoi and other manifestations in Eastern European folklore, shedding nearly all the modern romanticism of tales like ‘Twilight’ while retaining the creature’s symbolism as both a deliverer of death and a purveyor of primal, twisted urges. As a result, this ‘Nosferatu’ can stand proudly alongside its predecessors and may become a genre benchmark in its own right as time goes on.
‘Nosferatu’ receives 9 out of 10 stars.
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What is the plot of ‘Nosferatu’?
A young woman haunted by spectral visions comes under the spell of an ancient vampire, whose obsession brings unimaginable evil and horror to everyone in his path.
We’ve been told more than once that the most antagonistic combination in ‘Deadpool 3’ is likely to be Ryan Reynolds’ Wade Wilson (AKA the titular Deadpool) and his longtime obsession, Logan/Wolverine, played in a surprise return by Hugh Jackman.
The real life pals’ online rivalry will spill out into the movie as Jackman has promised that Wolverine will be no fan of Deadpool. But it appears they will also find common ground facing off against a bigger threat.
Naturally, no one is saying anything about the character so far, which means the internet is already frothily speculating on who they might play––especially if Team Deadpool is considering a Marvel Comics character. Emma Frost? Whoever they end up as, Corrin will bring quality to the role––they have also been seen in the likes of ‘My Policeman’ and Netflix’s recent adaptation of ‘Lady Chatterley’s Lover’.
Reynolds welcomed the new addition in typically silly social media style…
New addition to the family! The Deadpool family, for clarity. Which is just like a real family except with less swearing… Welcome, Emma Corrin! ⚔️❤️⚔️ pic.twitter.com/LSobi4AqO9
‘Deadpool 3’ has been in the works for a while now, with Reynolds naturally driving development. Animation veterans Wendy Molyneux and Lizzie Molyneux-Logelin worked on the early drafts of the script, and more recently, regular ‘Deadpool’ writer duo Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick came aboard to help Reynolds get it into shooting shape. Because as we know, the screenplays for these movies are usually heavily reliant on the star and others riffing as well as established pages.
The Wolverine announcement came last year, as did word that director Shawn Levy––who has now worked with Reynolds on ‘Free Guy’ and Netflix action pic ‘The Adam Project’––would be taking the reins on the new movie.
It’s exciting for Marvel fans, as this movie will mark the first time Deadpool will be properly in the MCU, and studio boss Kevin Feige is involved as one of its producers. Oh, so many targets for Deadpool to crack wise about…
Right now, ‘Deadpool 3’ is set for release on November 8th, 2024.
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Emma Corrin in Netflix’s ‘The Crown’ Season 4.
In related Corrin news, they have also landed another role (one which necessitated the ‘Deadpool’ team figuring out schedules before they could commit).
The new movie is a gothic tale of obsession between a haunted young woman (Lily-Rose Depp) in 19th century Germany and the ancient Transylvanian vampire (Bill Skarsgård) who stalks her, bringing untold horror with him.
Nicholas Hoult and Willem Dafoe are also aboard the fanged film, though we don’t yet know exactly what they or Corrin will be playing.
‘Nosferatu’ is inspired by F. W. Murnau’s 1922 silent horror feature of the same name. It was given that title, which is derived from an archaic Romanian name for vampire, following a copyright spat with the estate of Bram Stoker, the Irish novelist who wrote ‘Dracula’ in 1897. Murnau’s vampire was renamed Count Orlok.
Eggers, who also wrote the script, is scheduled to start shooting next month in Europe.
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Hugh Jackman will return as Wolverine in Marvel Studios’ ‘Deadpool 3.’
(L) Jonathan Majors as Nat Love in ‘The Hard They Fall.’ Photo courtesy of Netflix @ 2021. (R) Legendary NBA player Dennis Rodman. Photo courtesy of the NBA’s YouTube channel.
Jonathan Majors has enjoyed quite the successful last couple of years in his career. He’s established one of the most complicated, watchable characters for the MCU in ‘Loki’, made an impact in Western ‘The Harder They Fall’ and is flying back to cinema screens for new Korean War drama ‘Devotion’. Oh, and in 2023, he’ll not only have his big-screen MCU debut in ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,’ but will also prove a formidable opponent to Michael B. Jordan in ‘Creed III’.
You can understand, then, that he’s a man in demand. And now he’s considering taking on a plum role as Dennis Rodman in based-on-truth basketball movie ’48 Hours in Vegas’.
Jordan VanDina wrote a spec script based on the crazy story of how basketball star Rodman went on a madcap adventure with his skittish assistant General Manager in the middle of the 1998 NBA Finals. According to Deadline, “the film will detail a budding friendship that neither one of them ever thought was possible but will end up solving both of their problems.”
Though the story was covered comprehensively in Michael Jordan-Chicago Bulls documentary ‘The Last Dance’, VanDina wrote his script before the movie came out, and sounds like it could be a fun romp.
Lionsgate won the rights to the script, which also boasts the producing power of Phil Lord, Chris Miller and their business partner Aditya Sood via their Lord Miller company.
No director is aboard yet, but with Majors close to a deal, we figure this one will be hitting the production court next year.
In 2016, Jon M. Chu directed the sequel, ‘Now You See Me’ (which really should have been called ‘Now You Don’t, but nobody asked us), and saw the return of the three men, joined this time by Lizzy Caplan for more illusions and further run-ins with the law.
Little is known about the plot for the third (beyond that it’ll include magic tricks and probably elaborate schemes) but given that Fleischer also worked with Eisenberg and Harrelson on the two ‘Zombieland’ movies, we’d expect them to be back.
“There are three things in this world I absolutely love… Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson and magic,” says Fleischer. “To have the chance to work with these two talented actors, as well as rest of the incredible cast of the ‘Now You See Me’ movies is a dream come true. I am a lifelong fan of heist movies – I love getting drawn in by the twists and the mystery where nothing is what it seems. And that’s even more true when the thieves are magicians – the opportunities are endless. Eric was able to unlock a fresh and exciting way into a new movie and fun new characters, so I’m excited to dig in even further.”
“Eric” is Eric Warren Singer, who wrote the original drafts of the movie, but Seth Grahame-Smith is now working on a new re-write.
(L to R) Jesse Eisenberg, Isla Fisher, Woody Harrelson, and Dave Franco in 2013’s ‘Now You See Me.’
Finally – and stepping outside of Lionsgate – there is news of ‘The Northman’ director Robert Eggers’ next movie.
He’s been developing his own take on classic vampire tale ‘Nosferatu’ for Focus Features and has now locked down his leading duo.
Bill Skarsgård, probably still best known for playing Pennywise in the ‘It’ movies, is back in a horror mood for the new film, alongside Lily-Rose Depp.
Per Deadline’s report, in the new reimagining, ‘Nosferatu’ is a gothic tale of obsession between a haunted young woman (Depp) in 19th century Germany and the ancient Transylvanian vampire (Skarsgard) who stalks her, bringing untold horror with him.
This is one that Eggers has been trying to make for a while – its development pre-dates ‘The Northman’ and at one point he had Skarsgård, Anya Taylor-Joy and Harry Styles attached to star.
With Eggers writing and directing as usual, the movie should be shooting next year if the schedules line up. Time for Eggers to finally do some vamping…
(L to R) Alexander Skarsgard, Nicole Kidman, director Robert Eggers, Willem Dafoe, and Anya Taylor-Joy at the Los Angeles premiere of ‘The Northman.’
The result is an epic and ultra-realistic Viking movie that pulls influence from ‘Braveheart,’ ‘Spartacus,’ ‘Conan the Barbarian,’ and even William Shakespeare’s ‘Hamlet,’ and features a career-defining performance from Alexander Skarsgård.
The movie begins in 895 A.D. on the imaginary island of Hrafnsey where King Aurvandill (Hawke) is brutally murdered by his brother Fjölnir (Bang), while his son, a young Prince Amleth (Oscar Novak) watches in horror. Amleth barely escapes and is eventually discovered and raised by a band of Vikings, but vows to one day avenge his father’s murder and rescue his mother, Queen Gudrún (Kidman).
Years later, an adult Amleth (Skarsgård) is told by a Seeress (Björk) that he will soon have his revenge on his uncle. He then learns that Fjölnir was overthrown from his kingdom, and now lives in exile in Iceland. Amleth disguises himself as a slave on a ship being taken to Fjölnir and soon meets Olga (Taylor-Joy), a sorceress who wants to help Amleth on his quest.
Once arriving in Iceland, Amleth learns that his mother has married Fjölnir and had their own son, Gunnar (Elliot Rose). Now, in order to avenge his father’s death, Amleth will have to search for the magic sword Draugr, if he wants to defeat Fjölnir and save his mother, Olga and the other slaves.
Coming off of his acclaimed films ‘The Witch’ and ‘The Lighthouse,’ ‘The Northman’ solidifies director Robert Egger’s place as one of the most exciting and gifted filmmakers working today. The movie is large and epic in scope, but Eggers keeps it moving at a furious rate. The movie is dark, both physically and emotionally, extremely realistic and very bloody.
Eggers choice to shoot on location, and use practical effects when possible, adds to the realism and attitude of the piece. The film also has a magical aspect that is relayed quite well and seems very realistic, given the source material and its role in the overall story.
The supporting cast is strong, with quick but fun performance from Willem Dafoe and musician Björk. Ethan Hawke is excellent as King Aurvandill, even if his role is somewhat limited as well. Hawke really sets the tone and pace for the movie, and his performance is what puts Amleth’s journey in motion.
Danish actor Claes Bang gives a standout performance as the movie’s villain, Fjölnir. It’s a captivating and multi-layered role that the actor plays well, creating an antagonist worthy of the film’s hero.
Oscar winner Nicole Kidman is also at her best in this movie as Queen Gudrún. In contrast to her role as the hero’s mom in ‘Aquaman,’ playing Amleth’s mother is a much meatier role and is reflective of an actress of her caliber. With several twists and turns, Kidman is always regal in the part, and her performance really packs a punch when her character’s true intentions are eventually revealed.
Anya Taylor-Joy, who starred in Eggers first movie ‘The Witch,’ gives a mysterious yet vulnerable performance as Olga, despite her limited screen time, and has great chemistry with Skarsgård. Make no mistake, ‘The Northman’ is Amleth’s story, but the screenplay serves Olga well, making her an important key to Amleth’s success and his bloodline’s future. At times, her performance is overshadowed by the action of the story, but her character’s importance to Amleth and the plot is never forgotten.
But like any good movie, ‘The Northman’ truly works as a whole only because of Alexander Skarsgård’s incredible, captivating, and thoroughly entertaining performance. I truly believe that this is the movie that will finally make the actor a household name, after roles in disappointing projects like ‘Battleship,’ ‘The Legend of Tarzan’ (which is actually a really good movie), and ‘Godzilla vs. Kong.’
As Amleth, Skarsgård is shockingly strong, both physically and in his performance, and commands the screen with urgency and excitement. He makes the movie work on every level and gives the best performance of his career.
In the end, fans of ‘Game of Thrones,’ ‘The Lord of the Rings’ and other “sword and horse” projects will be happy with ‘The Northman,’ and even surprised at the dramatic levels the film reaches. Director Robert Eggers has established himself with this movie as one of the most exciting filmmakers working today, and Alexander Skarsgård’s performance is not only a personal best for the actor, but the best male performance of the year so far!
