Renfield is a 2023 American action comedy horror film inspired by characters from Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula and its 1931 feature film adaptation. Produced and directed by Chris McKay, the film features Nicholas Hoult as the titular character, and co-stars Awkwafina, Ben Schwartz, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Brandon Scott Jones, Adrian Martinez, and Nicolas Cage. The story follows Renfield who, after decades as a grueling servant for Dracula, seeks a new purpose in life. After the critical and commercial failure of The Mummy (2017) and subsequent fallout of a new Universal Monsters shared universe, Robert Kirkman pitched a reimagining of Dracula, leaning more into the comedic aspects of the story and focusing on the character of Renfield, which he would produce through his company Skybound Entertainment. Dexter Fletcher was originally announced as director in 2019, but McKay eventually replaced him, working off the script by Ryan Ridley and Kirkman's original pitch. Much of the cast joined between August 2021 to January 2022, and filming took place from February to August 2022. Marco Beltrami was hired to compose the film's score.
Renfield had its world premiere at the Overlook Film Festival on March 30, 2023, and was released in the United States on April 14, by Universal Pictures. The film received mixed reviews from critics and was a box-office bomb, grossing $26.9 million against a $65 million budget.
