Osgood Perkins is working on a new Longlegs feature, a follow-up to the filmmaker’s mystery horror thriller that became highest-grossing independent film of the past decade.
And in a twist out of the Longlegs playbook, rather than original distributor Neon being involved, this one has Skydance-owned Paramount Pictures as the project’s new home.
Paramount has picked up the rights to the new mystery Longlegs project, which Perkins has written and will direct as well as produce. Nicolas Cage is returning as star and producer.
Also producing are Brian Kavanaugh Jones of Range Media; Chris Ferguson, Perkins’ partner at their company Phobos; and Dave Caplan of C2, which financed the initial movie.
Paramount and Perkins are keeping details in the basement but sources stress that this new Longlegs is not a sequel but something “set in the Longlegs universe.”
Longlegs was an out-of-nowhere hit when released by Neon in 2024, launching Perkins as a name horror filmmaker and establishing the star bona fides of Maika Monroe. The actress starred as an FBI agent with an aptitude for clairvoyance, who investigates a series of murder-suicides in Oregon that are connected to serial killer nicknamed Longlegs. Cage played Longlegs in a gonzo performance.
Longlegs earned $128 million worldwide on a budget of less than $10 million, becoming Neon’s highest-grossing domestic outing. The movie swirled several potent ingredients in its cauldron, among them the occult, mind manipulation, Satanic worship, creepy dolls and a crime procedural, making the story’s world fertile for more exploration.
Sources say that Neon stepped aside when the new project’s scope and budget exceeded that of the company’s normal parameters.
New Paramount’s studio leadership, under Josh Greenstein and Dana Goldberg, has been putting a strong focus horror on its slate building. It has two on-the-lot production entities that focus on horror, a label run by J.D. Lifshitz and Raphael Margules (Barbarian), and Walter Hamada’s 18Hz productions, with the latter behind the upcoming Passenger set for a May 22 release. There is also a first-look deal with Parker Finn, the filmmaker behind the Smile movies. And it is also relaunching the Paranormal Activity franchise with horror mavens James Wan and Jason Blum producing, all the while basking in the glow of the record-breaking success of Scream 7, which scared up $211.9 million when it was released earlier this year.
Perkins went to direct horror movies The Monkey and Keeper and has wrapped production on his latest scary movie, The Young People, which stars Nicole Kidman, Lola Tung and Nico Parker.
Cage’s next big outing is starring in Amazon Prime Video’s Spider-Man series Spider-Noir, which debuts in May. Later this year, he portrays football great John Madden in David O. Russell’s Madden.
Perkins is repped by CAA, Untitled and Lichter Grossman, while Cage is repped by WME, Stride Management and Goodman Genow.
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