When the movieLonglegswas released in theaters around a month ago, its C+ CinemaScore certainly raised questions about its long-term prospects. While this grade is par for the course for horror movies, it’s usually also a surefire sign of afront-loaded box office performance. But in a remarkable deviation from the norm,Longlegshasn’t only lived up to its title, but has also delivered the sort ofcommercial performance that you’d normally expect from a major studio film.Longlegshails from the indie distributorNeon, whose previous biggest domestic box office hit barely scraped past the $50 million mark.
As of this past weekend, the movie has grossed nearly $67 million domestically, and another $14 million from overseas markets, fora cumulative global haul of $81 million. This makes it the third-biggest horror movie of the year, behind Korea’sExhuma($86 million), and Paramount’sA Quiet Place: Day One($258 million).Longlegswill probably overtakeExhuma’s lifetime global haul before the end of its run, which is expected to finish at above $90 million worldwide — a huge win for an art-house scary movie that wasreportedly produced for less than $10 million.
Longlegsgrossed $4 million domestically this past weekend, registering a drop of just 39% from the previous weekend. In fact, while most horror movies tend to fall by around 60% in their sophomore frames,Longlegsdropped by less than 50%. Thanks to these incredible holds, the film has now out-performed several major horror titles, such asCandyman($77 million),The Pope’s Exorcist($73 million), andThe Cabin in the Woods($70 million). Most impressively, themovie has now overtaken the $80 million lifetime haul of rival indie studio A24’sHereditary.
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Directed byOsgood Perkins, and starringMaika MonroeandNicolas Cage,Longlegswas initially sold as a ‘90s-set serial killer thriller in the vein ofJonathan Demme’sThe Silence of the LambsandKiyoshi Kurosawa’sCure. But audiences discovered that it had more than a few tricks up its sleeve, as it unleashed a plot laden with supernatural elements and plenty of references to the occult. Themovie scoredpositive reviews, and appears to have settled at a “fresh” 86% score on the aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes. Particular praise was given to Perkins’ command over atmosphere, and Cage’s creepy performance as the titular serial killer. You can still watch the movie in theaters, and stay tuned to Collider for more updates.
A chilling horror thriller directed by Osgood Perkins. The film stars Maika Monroe as Lee Harker, a promising new FBI agent assigned to solve the mystery of an elusive serial killer played by Nicolas Cage. As Harker delves deeper into the case, she uncovers disturbing evidence of occult practices connected to the murders.
