Comic-Con: A brief history of the Wolf Man and werewolves at the movies

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Due to consecutive box office hits with ‘The Incredible Hulk,’ ‘Hellboy II: The Golden Army’ and the upcoming ‘The Mummy 3: The Tomb of the Golden Emperor,’ Universal appears to be printing money with its summer tent poles.

And it looks like Universal would like to make its fantasy franchises a year-round success story. The studio is already priming the well for Spring 2009.

On Friday afternoon at Comic-Con, Universal unveiled a trailer for ‘The Wolf Man,’ starring Benicio del Toro as Lawrence Talbot and Anthony Hopkins as his father, Sir John, and Emily Blunt as Talbot’s brother’s fiancee, Gwen Conliffe. Special effects guru Rick Baker created the nightmarish beast that del Toro transforms into.

We’ll have more on Benicio, the trailer, Blunt and the newest ‘Wolf Man’ movie. But in the meantime, here’s a look back at a history of werewolves in movies by Los Angeles Times reporter Patrick Kevin Day: