Firstly, per Neon, who kindly emailed me yesterday, the budget for Oz Perkins’ “Longlegs” is “under $10M.” This means that the film will make its entire budget back by Friday. Note to Hollywood, bring back lower budgets.
The Thursday previews for “Longlegs” exceeded expectations with $3.5M in receipts. As mentioned yesterday, it’s eyeing a $20M opening weekend, or maybe more. I think Neon can breathe a sigh of relief as their relentless marketing has paid off big time with this horror film. No wonder they’ve already signed on to Perkins’ next two features.
Meanwhile, Paul Schrader, curmudgeon that he is, slammed Perkins’ film the same way he did Ti West’s “MaXXXine.” He’s basically saying that horror is beneath the talents of both filmmakers. In fact, Schrader refers to it as the “horror genre ghetto,” which, taken at face value, is a ridiculous statement.
Schrader should know that some of the best non-IP films in recent years have come from the horror genre. Call it “elevated horror,” or whatever other term you want, but not only have some fantastic young filmmakers come out of recent horror, but it’s also turned into one of the more profitable genres at the box-office.