As most Hollywood insiders predicted, Despicable Me 4 continued to dominate the box office this weekend, generating a whopping 44.6 million dollars as fans of the iconic franchise continue to pack theaters nationwide. The big surprise from the weekend was Nicholas Cage and Maika Monroe’s new arthouse horror flick Longlegs, which generated 22.6 million dollars at the box office over the weekend, greatly exceeding expectations and providing much needed boost for the horror genre. In a marketing move that many within the industry are applauding, Neon, the production company behind the hit film, posted thirty clips over the past ninety days promoting the film while managing to hide the film’s star, Nicholas Cage, from the clips. According to David Herren, founder of entertainment intelligence group Quorum and one of the early predictors of Longlegs success, “The genre was meant for re-invention and this was a shot in the arm for it. Neon was so super smart in their marketing, not revealing everything and not showing Nicolas Cage”. In a press note released Sunday morning, Neon stated “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 success of Longlegs at the weekend Box office marks a huge win for the independent and horror film genres, potentially reviving a genre that has been less successful in recent years.
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