It’s been a great year for horror movies so far, but the one getting the most attention is easily Longlegs, the new serial killer thriller being compared to Silence of the Lambs and Zodiac. Now, it’s hitting theaters and it just set a record for its distributor, Neon.
With $3 million in Thursday previews, that makes it a record for Neon, surpassing Sydney Sweeney’s Immaculate from just a few months ago. The highest preview gross ever indicates it may be headed for a huge opening weekend thanks to good review and buzzy word of mouth. Estimates are around $20 million right now, which would double its supposedly $10 million budget immediately.
The film stars burgeoning horror legend Maika Monroe (of the excellent It Follows) and Nicolas Cage as Longlegs himself, the unhinged killer, which I’m sure audiences are eager to see. Right now it may actually be #1 at the box office this weekend beating out Sony’s Fly Me to the Moon which stars Channing Tatum and Scarlett Johansson, obviously big A-list names, in a film that cost $100 million. Again Longlegs, like many great horror films, has a relatively tiny budget, under $10 million, meaning profitability is more than assured. This is also why we see so many horror films because if you strike gold, you really strike gold given their usual very low cost.
Neon distributes many movies you know, but almost all of them have relatively low grosses worldwide. I know you’ve heard of I, Tonya and Ferrari, for instance, but those grossed $53 million and $40 million globally, respectively. Its biggest all-time success is Parasite, which made $253 million worldwide and of course won Best Picture at the Oscars.
How will Longlegs perform? If we are comparing it to Immaculate, despite those high previews it only went on to gross $24 million worldwide despite good reviews and it-girl Sydney Sweeney. I think maybe if Longlegs keeps this buzz up and has a great opening weekend, it will blow past Immaculate and maybe it could slide into second place above Ferrari long term, but maybe that’s optimistic. I don’t think you can predict a $250 million Blair Witch unicorn haul for it.
Longlegs originally debuted with a 100% on Rotten Tomatoes but that’s down to an 87% now, well below those famous films it’s been compared to. Audience scores are at a not-great 69%, though maybe it’s just…too gross for some. Though if you go and see it, I think you have to be expecting that.
I hope to see it this upcoming week and will give my thoughts then. Looking forward to seeing if it lives up to the hype.
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