Robert Eggers has found a fitting way to sell a werewolf movie: make audiences watch the moon. Focus Features has released a second trailer for Werwulf, the director’s medieval horror film, alongside an alternate reality game that runs on the lunar calendar in the lead-up to the film’s 25 December 2026 cinema release.
The film stars Aaron Taylor-Johnson as a farmer in 13th-century England who is cursed to become a werewolf, with his wife and a band of hunters pulled into the fallout. Lily-Rose Depp, Willem Dafoe, Ralph Ineson and Jack Morris round out the cast. Eggers co-wrote the script with Icelandic novelist Sjón, his collaborator on The Northman, and the new footage offers a closer look at the grim, weather-beaten world he tends to favour.
The cast list and the release date will look familiar to anyone who followed Nosferatu. That film also opened on Christmas Day through Focus Features, shared Depp, Taylor-Johnson, Dafoe and Ineson with Werwulf, and became Eggers’ biggest box office success to date. Repeating the formula is a clear bet that festive-season horror can again pull audiences away from holiday blockbusters. It also shows how far Eggers has come from the small-scale folk horror of The Witch, in which Ineson also appeared.
The marketing gimmick is called Devoureth All Mankynde, and it spans the full moons from September to November. During each moon, players get a 24-hour window to track down a hidden sign across the film’s digital channels, decode it and submit the answer on the game’s website. Solve all three and a prize awaits, although Focus Features hasn’t said what it is. The rules could also change before the game gets going.
Alternate reality games have a solid track record in film marketing, from The Blair Witch Project’s fake-documentary online presence to The Dark Knight’s elaborate Joker-themed campaign. They reward the most dedicated fans and generate discussion online, but they rarely reach casual moviegoers. A game built around a single 24-hour window each month raises the bar further, which may suit a director whose films have always rewarded patience and close attention.
Details for audiences in the UAE, including cinema listings and ticket availability, haven’t been confirmed yet. For now, the questions are what that undisclosed prize turns out to be and whether a medieval werewolf story can repeat Nosferatu’s surprising holiday success.
