The highly anticipated remake of the classic Universal monster film, The Wolfman, has been pushed back yet again. The $100 million budget horror film, starring Benicio Del Toro, Anthony Hopkins, Emily Blunt, and Hugo Weaving, has been bumped to a February 12th, 2010 release. This would mark the film's fourth release date and third bump. Originally having a November 14th, 2008 release, it was moved to February 13th, 2009, then to April 3rd, then November 6th, and now February 12th of next year. This comes as no surprise as news broke earlier this month that six weeks of reshoots would be taking place since they weren't happy with the transformation sequences as well as the overall design of The Wolfman. A rumor floating around is that Universal spent $10-$30 million on reshoots in England and that the scenes had a lot to do with The Wolfman make-up since it "was too much like the original." Another rumor is that Rick Baker (who did the amazing transformation sequences in An American Werewolf in London) was brought in to direct practical transformation work since the CGI wasn't working. I'm all for the practical effects. Baker's work on AAWIL still stands up today since he went the practical route with makeup effects instead of CGI. It was at last year's Comic-Con where we saw the first footage of the film (see below) and that's all that's surfaced thus far. The footage was spectacular, but with no Wolfman news at this year's con and little to no news on the film since then (other than reshoots) pushing it back is probably the best solution. Although, this was my most anticipated film of 2009...

Benicio Del Toro stars as a haunted nobleman named Lawrence Talbot. When his brother vanishes, Talbot is captivated to return to his family estate where he's reunited with his estranged father (Anthony Hopkins). In his search for his brother, Talbot's horrifying fate is bestowed upon him. Talbot has spent decades trying to get over the night his mother died, which occured when he was just a child. He probably would have never returned to Blackmoor if it wasn't for Gwen Conliffe (Emily Blunt), his brothers fiancée, who tracked Talbot down in hopes of joining the search for her husband-to-be. Something inhuman with grotesque strength and an unquenchable thirst for blood has been slaughtering the villagers while an inspector from the Scotland Yard named Aberline (Hugo Weaving) has been investigating. As Talbot unveils more of this grisly mystery, he hears of an ancient curse that turns the afflicted into werewolves during a full moon. Talbot takes it upon himself to eradicate this violent beast in the woods surrounding Blackmoor in hopes of protecting the woman he has grown to love, but something is unleashed deep inside Lawrence Talbot.  As he hunts this malevolent creature, his grief-stricken past slowly begins to manifest a primal side to himself that he never knew existed.

Some of the art that Rick Baker has done for Lawrence Talbot's transformation scene(s) have found their way online. You can check that out here.

The footage from the San Diego Comic-Con in 2008 can be seen below.

The Wolfman will (hopefully) be released domestically on February 12th, 2010.