Maika Monroe and Nicolas Cage in “Longlegs.”
Nicolas Cage’s serial killer horror thriller Longlegs is making much more than expected at the weekend box office.
Released by independent studio Neon, Longlegs also stars Maika Monroe as FBI Special Agent Lee Harker, an intuitive rookie with the bureau who finds a break in the seemingly unsolvable case of Longlegs (Cage).
A devil worshiper who practices in the occult, Longlegs has been eluding authorities for more than 30 years. The demented killer leaves virtually no evidence at the scene of his crimes—where entire families are murdered—except for cryptic letters that contain symbols.
According to Deadline, Longlegs is expected to gross $20 million to $23 million at the domestic box office this weekend. That’s a shocking number considering that the indie release, per Deadline, was tracking to open in the high single digits in 2,510 theaters.
By contrast, last weekend’s box office champ Despicable Me 4 is playing in more than 4,400 theaters.
No official number for Longlegs’ production budget has been released, but Neon responded to a World of Reel inquiry and noted that the film’s budget was under $10 million.
The production number doesn’t include prints and advertising costs, of course, but if Deadline’s estimate holds, Longlegs is well on its way to turning a profit. No matter where the numbers end up, Longlegs will become the biggest debut at the box office in Neon’s seven-year history, the trade publication notes.
Depending on where its final domestic tally ends up, Longlegs could debut as high as No. 2 at this weekend’s box office.
No matter the case, there’s no doubt that Neon has run a successful promotional campaign for Longlegs, which mostly highlights intense featuring Monroe. While you can hear Cage’s unrecognizable voice as Longlegs in the film’s trailers, the face of the character is not revealed in any of the film’s promotional materials.
Longlegs is written and directed by Oz Perkins, the son of late acting great Anthony Perkins. The actor, of course, played the iconic role of slasher Norman Bates in director Alfred Hitchcock’s landmark horror thriller Psycho. Critics writing about Longlegs are comparing the film to Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins’ classic horror thriller Silence of the Lambs.
Coming in with a much softer debut at this weekend’s domestic box office is Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum’s romantic comedy Fly Me to the Moon.
Produced by Apple Original Films, Fly Me to the Moon is being distributed by Columbia Pictures. According to Columbia parent company Sony Pictures Entertainment, Fly Me to the Moon—which is set amid the staging of a fake moon landing during the Space Race in the 1960s—is projected to make $10 million in opening weekend in 3,356 theaters.
That’s a disastrous debut for the Apple Original, considering that its production budget, per Deadline, was $100 million before P&A. As such, the film is expected to debut at No. 5 at the North American box office this weekend.
Deadline reports that Despicable Me 4 is expected to pull in $44 million in its second weekend at the domestic box office at 4,449 theaters.
That tally is more than enough for the Universal Pictures/Illumination Entertainment animated feature to hold onto the No. 1 spot in North American theaters following its big debut over the long 4th of July holiday weekend.
Meanwhile, Deadline is projecting that Disney/Pixar’s blockbuster animated film Inside Out 2 is expected to come in at No. 3 this weekend with $19 million to $20 million in domestic ticket sales at 3,185 theaters.
The trade publication projects that Paramount Pictures’ horror thriller A Quiet Place: Day One will take the No. 4 slot domestically with $12.1 million in 3,378 theaters domestically.
The landscape of the box office is expected to change considerably over the next couple of weeks with the release of two more blockbuster productions.
Twisters, starring Daisy Edgar-Jones, Glen Powell and Anthony Ramos, opens in theaters nationwide on July 26. The film is a standalone sequel to the 1996 blockbuster starring Bill Paxton and Helen Hunt.
Meanwhile, Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman’s hotly anticipated R-rated Marvel Cinematic Universe debut—Deadpool & Wolverine—debuts in theaters on July 26.
Note: This article will be updated with more domestic box office information and international tallies on Sunday. The final numbers for this weekend’s box office will be released on Monday.
