Paramount has picked up the rights to a new mystery project tied to “Longlegs,” with Osgood Perkins writing, directing, and producing, and Nicolas Cage returning to star and produce. The new film puts Perkins back in the orbit of the horror title that gave him one of the biggest breakthroughs of his career and turned Cage’s deeply unnerving serial killer into one of 2024’s most memorable genre performances.
Whether it’s a sequel (though that would be hard given the original film…), a prequel, or a film set within the “Longlegs” horror universe is unclear, but the short of it is that the auteur and the star are back.
READ MORE: ‘Longlegs’ Review: Nicolas Cage Is Truly Terrifying In Osgood Perkins’ Instant Classic
Released by Neon on July 12, 2024, “Longlegs” followed an FBI agent drawn into a serial-killer case riddled with occult clues. The film starred Maika Monroe, Cage, Blair Underwood, and Alicia Witt, and its cold, diseased mood helped it stand apart from a horror marketplace usually built around louder, more disposable shocks.
The commercial upside was just as strong. Box Office Mojo lists the film at $127.96 million worldwide, including $74.35 million domestic, a massive result for an original horror release. Subsequently, “Longlegs” became Neon’s top-grossing film ever, the kind of number that all but guaranteed Perkins would not be leaving this world behind after one trip through it.
For Paramount, the pickup is a bet on a filmmaker who turned an off-kilter original into a real theatrical event. For Perkins, it is a return to the ugly, airless dread that put “Longlegs” on the map in the first place. And for Cage, it means another shot at the kind of deranged, singular horror work that still feels impossible to mistake for anybody else’s.
Rodrigo Perez is the founder and editor-in-chief of The Playlist, which he launched in 2008. He has worked in entertainment journalism since 2000, including at MTV, and has written for SPIN, IndieWire, Pitchfork, Complex, Magnet, and various music, film, and entertainment publications over the past two decades.
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