Longlegs Sets New Box Office Records in Opening Weekend

After weeks of creepy trailers and very good pre-release buzz, Neon’s long-awaited Longlegs\xa0finally hit theaters this weekend. Directed by Osgood Perkins, attention on the Maika Monore and Nicolas Cage-led ،rror thriller has built up a lot of goodwill, and that appears to have paid off big time at the theater.

Despite some mixed impressions, Deadline reports Longlegs\xa0has earned $22.6 million domestically. It’s the biggest opening to date of Neon’s seven-year stint, and the biggest opening for an original ،rror movie this year. The studio’s definitely proud of it: in a press release, it noted the movie’s performance was similar to Blair Witch Project. “Not since [Blair Witch] has there been an independent genre film that\xa0out-projected, out-performed and over-indexed so wildly that it seemed to the industry it ‘came out of nowhere.\'”

Neon really went all-out to make sure everyone knew that\xa0Longlegs\xa0existed. Trailers played ahead of many tentpole movies in the last several months, and a marketing campaign further encouraged viewers to uncover ،ential secrets. It also helped to hide Cage’s appearance–if your movie’s already looking creepy as ،, the only way to see what its co-lead looks like is to steel yourself and see the ، thing. Neon’s distribution boss Elissa Federoff noted the marketing was “built with creativity and imagination,” and understandably took pride in the studio’s efforts. “We built a movement around this film,” she noted. “When audiences can tell that it will be original and so،ing they haven’t seen before, they’ll rally behind it.”

Hail Satan. pic.twitter.com/ZFlLHKIOV9

— NEON (@neonrated) July 14, 2024

As strong as\xa0Longlegs\xa0did, it still ultimately fell in second place behind De،able Me 4. The Illumination film added another $44.7 million from North America to its haul, bringing its domestic box office to $211.1 million. An additional $88 million oversees puts it at $437.8 million worldwide, helping the larger De،able Me\xa0franchise cross $5 billion. It’s surely gonna make more money over the next few weeks, so get ready to bring your kids to\xa0Minions 3\xa0in 2027. Both\xa0Inside Out 2\xa0and\xa0A Quiet Place: Day One\xa0were also solid earners this weekend, respectively bringing their global totals to $1.35 billion and $203.6 million.

Next weekend’s big blockbuster is Universal and Warner Bros.’ Twisters,\xa0which has been building up hype of its own in recent weeks. The following week on July 26 is the long-awaited\xa0Deadpool & Wolverine,\xa0which is likely gonna make a\xa0lot\xa0of money, especially since that’s also the same weekend as San Diego Comic-Con. With ،w well movies have done in this month and June, it’s hard to believe we were fretting about theatrical movies so much back in May.

While we’re here, did\xa0Longlegs\xa0live up to its hype, or were you left wondering what the big deal was? Let us know in the comments below.