Popularity & Demographic Information

• The rise in popularity of werewolf themed movies began in the 1980s, and is attributed to "shifting social and cultural tides". 

• The genre has most often appealed to teens, and its popularity has been contributed to the intersection of "conservative politics and sexual awakening in American culture".

• There have been over 100 movies and TV shows released in the US containing some form of werewolf character.

• Werewolf movies are said to appeal most to demographics that are going through transformation or identity crisis, with the beastly transformation acting as a metaphor for the challenges of the human experience.

Market Opportunity

•  One source notes that there has been a lack of werewolf horror movies compared to other creature features in recent years.
• It's also noted this decline may be due to movies like Twilight shifting the perceptions of werewolves as not as horror-geared, and popularizing them for teen drama instead.
• Recently the only werewolf related films and dramas have been "less horrifying and more of a gimmick", leaving an opportunity for a "modern and scarier update".
• There has recently been a slight uptick in the use of werewolves by independent filmmakers, but it's a sub-genre with many open possibilities.

Budget & Performance Data

• While there was limited data specifically on the budget for independent werewolf films, independent horror films as a whole budgeted anywhere between $500,000 and $5 million.  
• Horror movies were also shown to be the most profitable genre as relative to budget.
• Cult classic werewolf film Stephen King's Silver Bullet grossed over $12 million at the box office despite notably poor production quality.
• Among the Shadows, released in 2019, had an estimated budget of $3 million.  

Summary

• Within the first hour, we have been able to provide insight into werewolf genre popularity, demographic data, market opportunities, budgets, and performance of several werewolf films.
• For a deeper dive into the existing data on this topic, we recommend further research. Details on our recommended research paths have been provided in our proposals below.