Robert Eggers to Direct Romeo and Juliet for Focus Features

Robert Eggers is taking on Romeo and Juliet as his next film for Focus Features.

The director will direct and produce a new feature adaptation of William Shakespeare's play, as reported by The Hollywood Reporter on 22 September 2026. The project is intended to be his next production. No cast has been announced.

Focus Features won the project after a bidding contest with three other buyers. The rival bidders were A24, Sony and Warner Bros, according to the same report. A bidding war, when studios compete by raising their offers, can push up the price quickly. Here the deal is reported to be in the high-seventy millions in US dollars, covering filmmaker and talent fees plus the production budget, the cost of shooting and finishing the film.

The dialogue is expected to sound old. The adaptation is reported to feature actors speaking in Olde English. That points to speech in an older form of English, rather than modernised lines. It is a striking choice for a story most cinema audiences know in modern wording.

The move keeps Eggers with a familiar partner. Focus Features released his 2024 film Nosferatu, according to the report. The studio will also release his horror film Werwulf. That film is set for a Christmas Day opening in theatres, a prime holiday date when cinemas draw large family and festive crowds.

Werwulf is described as a 13th-century werewolf thriller, which Eggers co-wrote and will direct. It reunites him with Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Lily-Rose Depp, who both starred in Nosferatu. The casting links his last release directly to his next one.

Behind the camera, Sjón will produce Werwulf alongside Eggers and Focus Features, according to Deadline. Chris Columbus and Eleanor Columbus of Maiden Voyage will serve as executive producers, a credit often given for key financial or creative backing without day-to-day control of the shoot.

On the business side, Focus Features is run by Peter Kujawski. Eggers is represented by WME and Frankfurt Kurnit, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

What makes this stand out is the pairing. A 400-year-old love story. Dialogue that reaches back in time. For audiences, this means a familiar schoolroom tale could sound very different on a cinema screen.