Robert Eggers Announces “Romeo & Juliet” as Next Project

Director Robert Eggers explained at a Los Angeles Beyond Fest Q&A, shared online on 26 September, why he is making Romeo & Juliet next: another horror script got so dark he needed a break.

TL;DR

• Eggers said a second horror script grew so dark that he chose Romeo & Juliet as a break.
• Focus Features reportedly beat A24, Sony and Warner Bros. for the project, with the deal not yet finalised.
• Dialogue will reportedly use Elizabethan English, with lines taken straight from Shakespeare’s play.
• Werwulf, his next release, opens in UK cinemas on 1 January 2027.

Why Eggers is swapping monsters for Shakespeare

Eggers has spent his career on witches, Vikings, vampires and now a werewolf, so Shakespeare’s teenage lovers mark a sharp change of pace. The move lands before Werwulf, starring actor Aaron Taylor-Johnson, reaches US cinemas on Christmas Day.

Beyond Fest hosted a marathon of his films, a Q&A and a first look at Werwulf, according to CBR.

Eggers said he was writing another horror film after Werwulf when it turned very dark again. “I need a break,” he told the audience, according to Deadline. He joked that the answer was a story about two doomed teenagers.

Eggers has called Werwulf the darkest thing he has written, World of Reel reported.

The King of Burbank @ Beyondfest (@kingofburbank2). “Incredible answer from Robert Eggers about why he turned to Romeo & Juliet.” X, 26 September 2026, https://pic.twitter.com/003vhqRdCN

Focus Features beats A24, Sony and Warner Bros. to Eggers’ Romeo & Juliet

Focus Features, the Universal specialty label, won the project after a bidding war that also included A24, Sony and Warner Bros., according to The Hollywood Reporter. Eggers will direct and produce. The deal would reunite him with the studio behind his 2024 surprise hit Nosferatu.

Deadline confirmed the pursuit but said the deal is not yet finalised. A24 handled Eggers’ first two films, according to The A.V. Club, and recently won its own Cannes bidding war for Club Kid.

What we know about the Romeo & Juliet adaptation

Sources told The Hollywood Reporter the film will use Elizabethan English, also called early modern English, with lines taken straight from the play. Some coverage has labelled that Olde English, which The A.V. Club noted is a far older form of the language.

The same sources put the deal in the high-$70 million range, covering talent fees and the production budget. Deadline said details of Eggers’ take are under wraps.

Focus is riding a strong run, as Obsession became the studio’s highest-grossing film of all time, as we reported earlier.

How Eggers’ film joins Shakespeare’s screen history

Directors Franco Zeffirelli and Baz Luhrmann made the best-known versions, in 1968 and 1996, according to World of Reel. Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet starred actors Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes.

Audiences are also turning out for classic source material elsewhere: director Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, adapted from Homer’s epic, has passed $1.7 billion at the box office.

Werwulf UK release date and what comes next

Werwulf opens in UK cinemas on 1 January 2027 through Universal Pictures, a week after its 25 December US debut, according to Focus Features UK. The film stars Taylor-Johnson alongside Lily-Rose Depp and Willem Dafoe, with Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner among its producers.

Filming began at Sky Studios Elstree, with location work across the UK, according to Gold Derby. None of the reports so far names a cast or release date for Romeo & Juliet, which is intended to be Eggers’ next production.

Reported from publicly available interviews and verified press sources. Last reviewed 28 September 2026.