January is frequently a month when studios release movies that they’re less confident in from a box office perspective. That being said, the lack of stiff competition can often mean that a movie or two can become significant box office hits in January. Unfortunately, the 2025 movie schedule has been off to a slow start, as movies like Blumhouse’s Wolf Man failed to make a strong showing. Jason Blum is apparently a bit frustrated about that, though he’s trying not to let it show.
A few days ago Jason Blum apparently tweeted about Wolf Man’s box office returns which have totaled less than $30 million globally. The post included an image of an angry face, indicating he was annoyed by the totals. He quickly deleted the tweet, but as the internet is forever, others got screenshots and retweeted the post.
This is a weird thing for him to post right pic.twitter.com/U0hORvHAexJanuary 27, 2025
It could be considered is a little weird that Jason Blum reportedly posted that. We don’t normally see studio heads even talk about their films that aren’t performing well at the box office. Movies that hit big are celebrated, those that don’t are simply ignored. It’s the nature of the industry; not every movie is a winner. And only time will tell if Wolf Man ends up being one of the best horror movies of the year.
Responses to the original post are varied. Some consider Blum’s honesty a little refreshing. It’s not exactly a shock to hear that Jason Blum is unhappy with the response to Wolf Man and posting about the things that annoy us is one of the primary uses of social media.
At the same time, it’s suggested by some that Blum bringing attention to Wolf Man’s disappointing box office is disrespectful to all those people who made the movie. Certainly, a lot of people worked hard to try and make Wolf Man a success and they’re likely already frustrated enough that the movie hasn’t found an audience. Blum must have thought better of the post after putting it up, perhaps for this exact reason, as he deleted it shortly after.
Expectations for Wolf Man were likely significantly higher, at least at the outset. The movie was the second time that writer/director Leigh Whannell had been handed a classic Universal Monster to reimagine. 2020’s The Invisible Man movie was a huge hit, grossing nearly $150 million on a $7 million budget.
By comparison, Wolf Man reportedly cost about $25 million to produce. This means, that after marketing and distribution costs are factored in, the film likely hasn’t made back its initial investment and it will be lucky if it breaks even.
There’s still an opportunity for Wolf Man to find its audience. It will see Digital and Blu-ray releases and it certainly wouldn’t be the first movie to flop in theaters to become a hit on streaming platforms. Still, maybe it’s best if we don’t draw too much attention to the box office right now.