Werwulf (2026) Opens Dec. 25: Robert Eggers' Werewolf Movie Has Two Trailers and Still Hasn't Shown the Wolf. That's the Right Call

Here's a small thing I can't stop thinking about. The next full moon is a week from today, and a movie studio has apparently built part of a marketing campaign around it. Focus Features is putting out Robert Eggers' Werwulf on Christmas Day, and the way it has been introduced to us feels less like an ad schedule and more like someone keeping time by the sky.

The first trailer landed on June 29. The second arrived on September 26, which was the day of the Harvest Moon. Rue Morgue reports that a companion alternate reality game unlocks new material around the full moons that fall between September and November. I find that charming in a way studio campaigns rarely are, and I wanted to lay it out properly.

One honest caveat first. I haven't seen the film, I couldn't find a published review, and I couldn't find an official rating or runtime. So this isn't a review. It's a field guide: what's confirmed, what isn't, and what I think about the strangest choice in the whole campaign, which is that the wolf is nowhere to be seen.

Werwulf at a glance: date, cast, story and format

Everything in this card comes from studio announcements as reported by film and genre outlets, plus one theater listing. Where outlets disagree, I say so right after the card.

The studio's own description is deliberately thin: “a harrowing tale of devotion, damnation, and the devil within.” A theater listing from Independent Picture House says more. It describes a mute peasant, cursed to turn into a werewolf each full moon, who is forced to join a royal hunting party that's clearing the land of wolves. He has to hide his nature while trying to break the curse before it consumes his family.

One small wrinkle on the setting. The studio's logline says 13th-century England, and the theater listing says 1305. Strictly speaking, 1305 is in the 14th century. Cosmic Book News reports that Eggers told Esquire the story takes place around 1300, which would explain the overlap. Either way, we're in the same foggy stretch of the Middle Ages.

The full moon calendar: how the campaign keeps time

This is the part I built myself, because I couldn't stop noticing the pattern. The dates and Eastern times come from The Old Farmer's Almanac and were checked against NASA-based times from Star Walk. I'm not claiming the studio planned every date. I'm laying the campaign next to the moon and letting you see what lines up.

1. June 29Strawberry Moon

   The first trailer arrives

   Focus Features released it on a Monday. ABC News Radio reports the film's logline and a first look at Taylor-Johnson, Depp and Dafoe. It's also the day of June's full moon, though I haven't seen anyone say that was on purpose.

2. Sept. 26Harvest Moon · 12:49 p.m. ET

   The second trailer, a poster and a companion game

   A 15-second teaser appeared on September 25, according to ComingSoon, and the full second trailer followed on the Harvest Moon with a poster. Rue Morgue says the studio has been building interest through an alternate reality game tied to full moons between September and November. Vital Thrills describes fans hunting for a hidden “sign” across digital platforms.

3. Oct. 26Hunter's Moon · 12:11 a.m. ET · 7 days from today

   The next full moon

   KnownIt falls inside the September-to-November window Rue Morgue describes for the game.

   UnknownI don't know what, if anything, will appear. I'm just marking the date.

4. Nov. 24Beaver Moon · 9:53 a.m. ET

   The last full moon in that window

   KnownNovember is the final month of the reported September-to-November run.

5. Dec. 23Cold Moon · 8:28 p.m. ET

   The full moon before the release

   KnownIt peaks the evening of December 23 in U.S. Eastern time, which is 1:28 a.m. GMT on December 24. That puts a full moon about two days before the film opens.

6. Dec. 25Christmas Day

   Werwulf opens

   The same slot Eggers used for Nosferatu in 2024.

I like this calendar for a simple reason. A werewolf story is about time: a cycle you can't stop, a date that's coming whether you're ready or not. A campaign that follows the moon is doing a little bit of that storytelling before anyone has bought a ticket.

What the two trailers show and what they leave out

I'll keep this to what outlets actually described, and I'll paraphrase instead of quoting the trailers line by line.

• Trailer 1

  June 29, 2026

  • A young boy goes through a ceremony that ends in a transformation, and he's told not to fear the dark, per ABC News Radio.
  • The boy is later shown grown up as Taylor-Johnson, whose character is credited simply as “Man.”
  • Dafoe's character tells the family he has heard of a raving beast ravaging the land. Depp's character, the wife, asks for her husband's safety and marks his forehead with blood.

• Trailer 2

  Sept. 26, 2026

  • Rue Morgue calls it the fullest look yet, pushing further into the body horror of a man becoming something else.
  • The look is severe and nearly monochrome, according to Rue Morgue. World of Reel reports that Eggers once planned black-and-white but shot in color, with the grain structure of black-and-white film built into the image.
  • Music is by Robin Carolan and the cinematography by Jarin Blaschke, per First Showing.

Eggers' five films, side by side

I wanted to see Werwulf next to the films that came before it, using only details I could source. I'm not ranking them. I'm just putting the settings in a row.

• The WitchA period horror film set in 1630s New England, per Nerdtropolis.
• The LighthouseWillem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson as two lighthouse keepers living in isolation.
• The NorthmanA Viking revenge film written by Eggers and Sjón, with Dafoe in the cast.
• NosferatuOpened Christmas Day 2024. Box Office Mojo shows about $182 million worldwide, with $95.6 million of that domestic. Wikipedia lists a $50 million budget and calls it Eggers' highest-grossing film. Taylor-Johnson, Depp and Dafoe were in it.
• WerwulfOpens Christmas Day 2026. Taylor-Johnson, Depp and Dafoe return, along with Sjón as co-writer and Blaschke behind the camera.

What jumps out at me is how consistent the bet is. Most of these films take an old story or folk belief, a witch, a vampire, a Viking tale, a werewolf, and treat it as if the people inside it believed every word. And the one before this, Nosferatu, proved that a Christmas Day slot, a classic monster and a reported $50 million budget could work.

Why I think hiding the wolf is the right call

Here's my honest view, and I'll flag it as opinion because that's what it is. Two trailers in and no clear look at the creature isn't a marketing accident. It matches the film's own premise.

Think about the theater listing's description. A man is cursed to become a monster, and his whole problem is that he has to hide it from a hunting party. A film about concealment is being sold through concealment. I can't prove that was the plan. But if I were Eggers, I'd want the audience to feel what the main character feels: the dread of knowing something is there and not being able to see it.

There's also a track record. Fangoria noted when Nosferatu was in theaters that Focus hadn't even shown Count Orlok in the marketing, and that film grossed about $182 million worldwide. One example isn't a rule, and I don't want to oversell it. But it tells me the strategy has worked for this director and this studio before.

The risk is real, though. Some people will see two trailers with no wolf and feel teased, and a companion game that asks you to hunt for hidden signs isn't going to be for everybody. If you want a creature feature where the monster is front and center in the poster, this may not be your movie. I'd still rather be teased than spoiled, and I think a lot of horror fans feel the same.

Three kinds of moviegoer, three moons

These are my own categories, based on what's been reported. They're not an official anything. I named them after moon phases because, well, it fits.

• Full moon: go opening weekend if…

  • You liked Nosferatu, The Witch or The Lighthouse and want to see what Eggers does with a werewolf.
  • You enjoy slow-building dread more than jump scares.
  • A Christmas Day trip to a dark theater sounds like a good time to you.

• Half moon: wait for first reactions if…

  • You want to know the rating before you decide, since none has been announced.
  • You're unsure about body horror, which Rue Morgue says the second trailer leans into.
  • You'd like to hear from critics, and none have weighed in yet.

• New moon: skip it if…

  • You want a monster movie that shows the monster early and often.
  • Bleak, slow, atmospheric horror isn't what you look for in a holiday movie.
  • Reading old-fashioned dialogue sounds like homework. The Sun Malaysia reports Middle English, though a studio statement would settle it.

If you landed in the first one, I think you already know. If you landed in the second, you're in the lane I'd put most people in a few weeks before release.

What I couldn't confirm

Werwulf questions, answered fast