Longlegs is nearing a box office opening weekend record while Fly Me to the Moon sputters and stalls. Fly Me to the Moon is a new romantic comedy from Love, Simon director Greg Berlanti that stars Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum as a pair of NASA employees who spark a romance during the Space Race. The Longlegs release takes almost the exact opposite tone, as the Osgood Perkins horror movie starring Maika Monroe and Nicolas Cage follows a young FBI agent on the tail of an eerie serial killer.
Per Deadline, the domestic box office for the weekend of July 12 is projected to be dominated by the holdover animated hits Despicable Me 4 at No. 1 and Inside Out 2 at No. 3 by the end of Sunday. However, Longlegs has taken No. 2 as it approaches a total of $22.6 million, which marks distributor NEON's best opening weekend in historyin addition to 2024's best original horror debut. Meanwhile, Fly Me to the Moon is projected to open to an underwhelming $10 million against its whopping $100 million budget.
Even With Despicable Me 4 Holding No. 1, The Top 5 Chart Is Shaken Up
The Domestic Top 5 Looks Very Different From The Previous Week
The Minions movie has perhaps unsurprisingly retained its chart-topping position as it pushes the Despicable Me franchise past the $5 billion mark, making it the first animated franchise to ever do so. However, the rest of the chart sees nothing but movement. As Longlegs pushes both Inside Out 2 and A Quiet Place: Day One down a peg from last week's positions at No. 2 and No. 3 respectively, Fly Me to the Moon shoulders past the rest of the competition, settling into place at No. 5. Below, see the full domestic box office Top 5 chart for the weekend:
# | Title | 3-Day Total | Cumulative (Domestic) |
|---|---|---|---|
1 | Despicable Me 4 | $75 million | $210.4 million (weekend 2) |
2 | Longlegs | $22.6 million | $22.6 million (weekend 1) |
3 | Inside Out 2 | $21 million | $571.8 million (weekend 5) |
4 | A Quiet Place: Day One | $11.5 million | $115.9 million (weekend 3) |
5 | Fly Me to the Moon | $10 million | $10 million (weekend 1) |
Meanwhile, two other titles have fallen off the chart completely thanks to the new releases crowding them out. The Ti West trilogy-capper MaXXXine has fallen from No. 5 to No. 8 with a 3-day total of $2.2 million. This is a 66% week-on-week drop, which is not entirely unusual for any horror release, as the genre tends to peak significantly during opening weekend. The fact that Longlegs is taking up most of the oxygen for low-budget horror likely didn't help.
Bad Boys: Ride or Die, which has earned a 3-day total of $4.4 million during its sixth weekend in theaters, has also fallen off the chart, landing at No. 6 after being No. 4 the previous weekend. With Twisters blowing in during its seventh weekend, it seems unlikely that the Will Smith and Martin Lawrence legacy sequel will ever re-enter the Top 5. However, the movie can still hold its head high as it has become the sixth highest-grossing movie of 2024 so farworldwide at the time of writing.
Why Is Longlegs Succeeding While Fly Me To The Moon Isn't?
The New Releases Are Extremely Different
Although both new releases are original stories helmed by respected filmmakers, their differing fates have a few possible explanations. The success of the new horror movie could potentially be explained by its cast, as the presence of Nicolas Cage could be appealing to fans of his recent genre-bending movies, including Mandy, Pig, and Dream Scenario. While this wasn't enough to save his notorious 2023 horror-comedy flop Renfield, the new release could also be bolstered by strong Longlegs reviews, which have earned the movie a Certified Fresh 87% score on Rotten Tomatoes.
Osgood Perkins previously helmed the horror movies The Blackcoat's Daughter and Gretel & Hansel .
Meanwhile, its rom-com competitor, which is led by a pair of A-listers (both of whom have rom-com experience under their belts), has earned a more subdued, though still Fresh, 67% score. Ultimately, this debut doesn't necessarily spell bad news for the Fly Me to the Moon release, as recent precedent shows that romantic comedies have the ability to find an audience and have their worldwide totals balloon in spite of mediocre openings. That is what happened with the 2022 smash hit rom-com Anyone But You, which only opened to $6 million, but went on to gross $220.1 million overall.
However, Fly Me to the Moon could hit the same wall as several recent big-budget Apple Studios titles. A movie generally needs to earn at least twice its budget to turn a profit, likely making its break-even point $200 million or higher. This may prevent it from breaking even, something that its big-budget Apple predecessors Argylle ($96.2 million against a $100 million budget), Killers of the Flower Moon ($157 million against roughly $200 million), and Napoleon ($220 million against roughly $175 million) were unable to do. Meanwhile, Longlegs' lower budget means that it is likely already approaching its break-even point.
