The plot follows a family man seeking to protect his wife and daughter from a werewolf, only to become infected and slowly transform into the creature.

With his arm bloody and infected, Blake starts to show signs of illness: losing teeth, sweating profusely, and experiencing noise sensitivity.

He chews off his ensnared foot and continues pursuing as Charlotte and Ginger flee to the surrounding forest and hide in a hunting blind as the sun rises.

[11] Reporter Justin Kroll said the critical and commercial success of Leigh Whannell's The Invisible Man for Universal "scrap[ped] the universe concept" and loosened restrictions for the talent in front and behind the camera, allowing them to decide how they wanted to execute their films in terms of budget and MPAA rating and invite "big name talent" to pitch their ideas.

These meetings included Ryan Gosling's pitch to remake The Wolf Man and star in it, with Lauren Schuker Blum and Rebecca Angelo writing a screenplay described as tonally similar to Nightcrawler (2014).

[14] He and his wife Corbett Tuck co-wrote the first draft of their version by pulling from the feeling of confinement and isolation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic to touch on the inevitability of illness and death, setting the story primarily in one location to make the drama "intimate", and drawing from themes of parenting and marriage.

[21] Abbott was the first actor Whannell approached for the role over Zoom, being familiar with his work; the next day, Whannell saw Abbott perform the off-Broadway play Danny and the Deep Blue Sea (2023) opposite Aubrey Plaza at the Lucille Lortel Theatre in the West Village of Manhattan while in crutches due to a shattered kneecap, which sealed his decision to cast him.

[25][33] Whannell and director of photography Stefan Duscio (their third film after Upgrade and The Invisible Man) were influenced by cinematographer Roger Deakins' "grounded approach" to Prisoners (2013) and Sicario (2015).

The special effects team took six days to dismantle, lighten, and reassemble it onto a custom support frame; the work had to be completed without welding, cutting, or grinding because of a fire ban resulting from a dry spell in the area.

[18] Visual effects were employed for the character's increasingly animalistic perspective to add haze, computer-generated insects, translucent skin to reveal veins, and flashing eyes with retroreflective highlights.

[51] Whannell described the design reveal as a "debacle", as Universal did it without discussing it with him or the film's make-up artist Arjen Tuiten; he unsuccessfully tried stopping it by calling Jason Blum and later retorted that it was "like judging the Freddy Krueger makeup by a costume at Spirit Halloween.

"[20] Social media analytics firm RelishMix reported that online marketing led to 136.5 million interactions, 50% behind the average for a wide horror release.

Summarizing word of mouth from audiences, it wrote, "Mixed negative-leaning chatter on Wolf Man finds some viewers taking umbrage with the look of the film, from the cinematography to the design of the titular creature.

"[52] Wolf Man was released in the United States by Universal Pictures on January 17, 2025, including engagements in IMAX, 4DX, ScreenX, and D-Box.

[3][4] In the United States and Canada, Wolf Man was released alongside One of Them Days, and was projected to gross $15–21 million from 3,354 theaters in its opening four-day MLK weekend.

[44][55] Variety said the wildfires in Los Angeles were not expected to affect the film's box office performance, and that audience reception would determine its success.

IMAX and premium large format screens accounted for 41% of the opening box office, and exit polling indicated that 50% of attendees saw the film because of the genre.

The website's consensus reads: "Director Leigh Whannell's attempt at bringing a fresh psychological dimension to the Wolf Man comes at the expense of proper scares, although fans of body horror will still find some tasty morsels to chew on.

[66] NME gave it four stars out of five, writing that despite an unconvincing creature design and heavy-handed themes, the film has energetic pacing and delivers intense, claustrophobic action sequences.

[68] In a more mixed review, Time Out called it an atmospheric and occasionally unsettling exploration of fatherhood and transformation that, despite Abbott's best efforts and effective body horror moments, lacked the emotional depth and scares needed to elevate it to the level of its influences like The Fly.

They described the film as visually striking but underdeveloped, with suspenseful set pieces but shallow characterizations and an underwhelming exploration of its themes, leaving it feeling incomplete and emotionally weightless.

[70] IndieWire labeled Wolf Man a missed opportunity, blending what they called a promising premise about parental fears with an underwhelming execution marked by unconvincing special effects, a lack of genuine tension, and a muddled exploration of its themes, succumbing to predictable storytelling and uninspired horror elements despite Whannell's attempts to bring a grounded emotional core to the classic monster.

[71] The Associated Press lambasted the film as a sluggish, underwhelming reboot that squandered its classic monster premise with muddled themes, uninspired scares, and a lack of emotional or narrative depth, rating it zero out of four stars.