Focus Features is closing in on Robert Eggers’ adaptation of William Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” following a bidding war, according to an insider with knowledge of the project.
A24, Sony and Warner Bros. also bid on the package.
The film continues Focus’ longstanding collaboration with Eggers, a partnership that has produced “Nosferatu” and “The Northman,” as well as the international releases of “The Witch” and “The Lighthouse.”
According to The Hollywood Reporter, which first reported the news, “this adaptation will feature actors speaking in Olde English.”
The Shakespeare classic centers on two star-crossed lovers, Romeo and Juliet, from two warring families, the Capulets and the Montagues, in the city of Verona, Italy.
Like it did with “Nosferatu,” the studio is set to release “Werwulf” on Christmas Day in the States, likely in an attempt to replicate the success of Eggers’ last film, which grossed nearly $182 million at the worldwide box office on a $50 million budget.
Whether or not “Werwulf” will be able to achieve a similar level of financial and critical success as “Nosferatu” remains to be seen. Eggers, however, said in 2025 that “Werwulf” was “the darkest thing I’ve ever written by far,” and the film’s first trailer, at least, positions it to quite easily follow through on that promise.
Like all of Eggers’ films to date, “Werwulf” is set centuries in the past. Placed in 13th-century England, the film focuses on a cursed farmer (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) whose affliction sets the stage for plenty of queasy horror and, according to Focus Features, “a harrowing tale of devotion, damnation and the devil within.”
Eggers is repped by WME and Frankfurt Kurnit.
