Box Office Shocker: Nicolas Cage’s ‘Longlegs’ Debuts At No. 2

Nicolas Cage’s serial killer horror thriller “Longlegs” more than doubled its pre-release projections for a No. 2 finish at the weekend box office.

According to The Numbers, Longlegs debuted at the domestic box office this weekend with $22.6 million in ticket sales. 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.

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Released by indie movie 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.

Deadline noted that Longlegs’ production budget was under $10 million and its prints and advertising costs were in the high single digits. If the $22.6 million domestic tally holds, Longlegs will become Neon’s biggest box office debut in the studio’s seven-year history.

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Neon admitted a bit of shock over Longlegs’ opening box office performance, noting in a press release, “Not since The Blair Witch Project launched 25 years ago on the same weekend in July has there been an independent genre film that out-projected, out-performed and over-indexed so wildly that it seemed to the industry it ‘came out of nowhere.’”

The studio ran a savvy promotional campaign for Longlegs, as the trailers mostly highlight intense scenes featuring Monroe. While you can hear Cage’s unrecognizable voice as Longlegs in the promos—along with briefly obscured shot of his face in one of the trailers—the character’s full look is largely hidden.

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 have been comparing Longlegs to Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins’ classic horror thriller Silence of the Lambs. The 1991 film won Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director for Jonathan Demme and Best Actress and Actor for Foster and Hopkins.

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Coming in with a much softer debut at this weekend’s domestic box office is Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum’s 1960’s-era 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—is projected to make $10 million in opening weekend in 3,356 theaters.

That’s a disastrous debut for the Apple Original movie, 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.

‘Despicable Me 4’ to Hold On To No. 1 Spot

The Numbers reports that Despicable Me 4 is expected to pull in $44.6 million in its second weekend at the domestic box office at 4,449 theaters, bringing its domestic total to $210.4 million to date.

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, The Numbers is projecting a No. 3 finish for Disney/Pixar’s blockbuster animated film Inside Out 2 with $20.7 million in domestic ticket sales at 3,185 theaters. The Inside Out sequel has made $572.5 million in North American theaters to date.

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The box office tracker projects that Paramount Pictures’ horror thriller A Quiet Place: Day One will take the No. 4 slot domestically with $11.8 million in 3,378 theaters, boosting its running tally to $116.2 million.

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 has been updated with Sunday’s domestic numbers and will be update again with international tallies Sunday afternoon. The final numbers for this weekend’s box office will be released on Monday.

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