Days after Inside Out 2 broke every box office record for animated films that it could, and even as Deadpool & Wolverine sets new benchmarks for R-rated movies, Neon’s Longlegs is continuing its own success story in its weight class. The horror-thriller recently became the indie distributor’s top-grossing domestic release, ahead of Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite, and this past weekend — its third — it also became the highest-grossing indie horror film of the last 10 years, according to Deadline.
Directed by Osgood Perkins and starring Maika Monroe and Nicolas Cage, Longlegs has been breaking box office records since its debut. It delivered the top opening in Neon’s history, grossing over $22 million in its first weekend, and has since generated nearly $60 million domestically. With a further $10 million from overseas markets, Longlegs is on the verge of passing the $70 million mark globally. The movie was produced on a reported budget of less than $10 million, making this a huge return on investment for Neon.
The indie studio has been seen as A24’s closest competitor for years, but has struggled to match its rival’s box office performance and brand recognition. But after years of playing second-fiddle, Neon recently overtook A24’s top-grossing horror films such as Hereditary ($48 million) and Talk to Me ($44 million). Today, Longlegs will overtake the lifetime domestic box office haul of Zack Snyder’s debut feature film, Dawn of the Dead. It will then set its sights on overtaking the Candyman remake’s $61 million lifetime haul, The Purge’s $64 million lifetime haul, and The Exorcist: Believer’s $65 million lifetime haul.
I looked up a few reviews and it seems tepid. The trailer looks rad though.
That’s a surprise as most reviews that I’ve seen where overwhelmingly positive and rightly so - it was straight into my top 10 of the year. If you liked the look of the trailer then definitely give it a go.
This movie had a lot of very talented people working with a terrible script. The acting, editing, sound design, and cinematography were fantastic; the writer(s) and whoever did Cage’s make-up were not.
The first half of the movie was pretty great, though
Not going to lie I found it to be quite mid. I’m sort of tough to please when it comes to horror, especially supernatural horror, so take that with a big grain of salt. From a technical stance it is a fantastic piece of cinema, the filming itself, the sound design, the pacing, like it’s there, but I found the plot lacking in ways I won’t explain due to spoilers. I’d say it’s worth seeing on the big screen, and I’m so glad the crew is seeing such big success from the film, but it didn’t quite live up to the hype for me.
Pretty trash horror movie but it’s better if you think of it as a murder mystery. Production value is really good regardless.
