Paramount Is Betting Big on a New ‘Longlegs’ Movie, and It Already Has the Perfect Release Date
Paramount Pictures has officially locked in a release date for the next installment in the ‘Longlegs’ universe, and the studio is not playing it safe. The untitled project, reuniting Nicolas Cage and director Osgood Perkins, is set to arrive in theaters on January 14, 2028, which falls on the lucrative Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend.
The new film is described not as a traditional sequel but as something set within the ‘Longlegs’ universe, with clear connections to the original, and insiders have placed its production budget in the range of 40 to 50 million dollars. That is a significant leap from the micro-budget roots of the first film, which only reinforces how seriously the industry is taking this franchise now.
Perkins has been confirmed as writer, director, and producer on the project, while Cage will reprise his role and also serve as a producer alongside Brian Kavanaugh-Jones, Chris Ferguson, and Dave Caplan. Plot details remain completely under wraps, leaving fans to speculate whether the story could be a prequel, a spiritual continuation, or something altogether different.
The franchise’s move from Neon to Paramount came after the original distributor stepped aside, with sources at The Hollywood Reporter indicating the project’s scope and budget exceeded what Neon typically handles. Horror has become a declared priority at Paramount, and landing a property with this much cultural momentum was clearly worth the investment.
The first ‘Longlegs’ earned 127 million dollars globally against a budget of just 10 million, driven in large part by a distinctive marketing campaign that released new clues online each week and kept Cage’s appearance entirely hidden until the film hit theaters. That campaign has since been cited across the industry as a blueprint for building horror anticipation in the digital age.
Paramount has a strong track record with MLK weekend releases, having opened ‘Scream’ to 33.1 million dollars and ‘Mean Girls’ to 33.6 million during the same window in recent years, with ‘Cloverfield’ still holding the studio’s record for that weekend. Both ‘Scream’ and ‘Cloverfield’ are horror titles, which suggests the studio sees a pattern worth repeating here.
The new ‘Longlegs’ film joins a growing 2028 slate for Paramount that also includes a ‘Heart Eyes’ sequel and a ‘Call of Duty’ adaptation directed by Peter Berg, signaling an ambitious year ahead for the studio. Whether Maika Monroe’s FBI agent Lee Harker factors into the new story has not been confirmed, and for now the silence around the project feels very much intentional, a page taken directly from the original’s own playbook.
