UPDATE: Neon tells me the budget was actually under $10M.
EARLIER: It looks like Neon’s onslaught of marketing for “Longlegs” has paid off, big time. Inside tracking numbers have the film eyeing a 3-day $18M-$20M opening weekend. This is great news for a film that’s not IP and auteur driven. The budget on this one was under $10M. We’re looking at a major win for original filmmaking.
The buzz for this one has been incredible, and most of the reviews very positive. That will definitely help the film this weekend. Neon had this brilliant strategy of cryptic marketing, with countless teasers and posters.
It helps that Neon initially screened the film just for genre critics. This built up immense buzz on social media. For nearly a month, “Longlegs” was at 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, mostly due to Neon picking and choosing who can watch and review the film. Right now, the film has a 77 on Metacritic and 91% on Rotten Tomatoes.
You can read my review of the film. It’s good, not great. There’s a lot to admire in “Longlegs,” and Perkins’ direction is taut, tense and confident. It could have benefited from a stronger script, less reliant on genre tropes, but as far as these types of films go, it’s quite good.