Since opening three weeks ago, Longlegs has become a true box office success story. Its dominance was clear right out of the gate when it over-performed in its opening weekend, securing Neon’s biggest debut in its seven-year history. In a time when most horror films collapse after the first weekend, Longlegs has seen pretty solid declines and with a good hold in its third weekend, the film finds itself crossing another major box office milestone.
Per Deadline, Longlegs has become the highest grossing independent horror movie of the last 10 years with a current running gross of $58.6 million. The figure tops the domestic total of Talk To Me ($48.2 million), Insidious: Chapter 3 ($52.2 million) and Hereditary ($44 million). Talk To Me and Hereditary hail from indie studio A24, while 2015’s Insidious: Chapter 3 was released by Universal’s Focus. Longlegs is also the highest grossing film released by Neon on the domestic front, topping the $53.3 million domestic gross of 2019’s Parasite.
Longlegs Has Seen Respectable Returns Since its Opening Weekend
Longlegs
Longlegs is a horror thriller film by writer-director Osgood Perkins. When FBI agent Lee Harker is assigned to a serial killer cold case, their investigation leads them down a rabbit hole riddled with disturbing discoveries and the occult at the center of it all. When the trail of evidence reveals a personal connection, it becomes a race against time to prevent another murder.
- Release Date
- July 12, 2024
Longlegs has grossed $66.7 million worldwide, making it the third highest-grossing horror film of the year globally, behind A Quiet Place: Day One ($253 million) and Exhuma ($97 million). Making the box office performance of Longlegs even more impressive is that the film was made for a slim $10 million, so it was already turning a big profit after its record-breaking $22.4 million opening weekend. Bolstered by solid reviews and genuine audience curiosity, Longegs has dropped less than 50 percent following its opening, which is a rarity for the horror genre.
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How Longlegs Shocked the Box Office
The success of Longlegs could revolutionize the horror genre in more ways than one.
Independent horror has been killing it at the box office in recent years. Two of the aforementioned films – Hereditary and Talk To Me – also surprised during the summer of their respective releases following stellar reviews from critics. Hereditary and Longlegs are also similar in the fact that they received less than desirable CinemaScores from opening-day audiences and still managed to connect with moviegoers. Hereditary earned a D+ score at the time of its release, while Longlegs earned a C+. Talk To Me fared a bit better with a B+ CinemaScore.
Written and directed by Osgood Perkins, Longlegs follows FBI agent Lee Harker (Maika Monroe) as she tracks down a serial killer known as “Longlegs” (Nicolas Cage) who has been murdering multiple families without physically being at the scene of the crimes. In addition to Monroe and Cage, the film stars Alicia Witt and Blair Underwood.
Longlegs is currently playing in theaters nationwide.