I took out the birthday cake and opened the wrapping, Creepily Lifelike dolls: Long legs is celebrating a major milestone: Osgood Perkins’ breakout horror movie, starring Maika Monroe as a hyper-intuitive FBI agent and Nicolas Cage as the nightmarish serial killer she pursues, is officially the highest-grossing independent film of 2024.
According to a Neon press release: Long legsThe film has grossed over $100 million worldwide. It also reports that “it has now grossed a cumulative $72 million in the U.S. and Canada. Long legs “To date, it is the highest grossing indie film released in 2024 and the highest grossing R-rated horror film of 2024.” This nightmarish marketing campaign really worked!
These figures are a major achievement considering the film has yet to open in some major markets, such as Italy and Latin America. Globally, it has performed strongly so far in the UK and Ireland (“the film’s top territory at the international box office, currently at $10 million”) and Canada ($7 million).
What’s even better is that “Long Legs” has grossed more in the U.S. than Neon’s previous top release, an Oscar winner. Parasites (It made more worldwide.) It is also the highest-grossing indie horror film of the past decade and a notable recent hit. Talk to me, Insidious Chapter 3 and Hereditary.
With this in mind, Neon is clearly excited to be producing Perkins’ horror film, which will be a Stephen King adaptation. monkeyIt is scheduled to be released in February and is also being produced It Follows Sequel They followstarring Long legs“Monroe.”
More broadly speaking, Long legs‘s profitable success will boost the indie horror genre as a whole — audiences who enjoyed Nicolas Cage’s unsettling performance will be more likely to seek out other fun, quirky, unconventional fare — and indie studios will once again have a good idea that investing in low-budget horror can be very profitable.
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