Movies
‘The First Omen’ Debuts With $17 Million Worldwide Opening Weekend
For the first time in 18 years, the classic horror franchise The Omen is back on the big screen with director Arkasha Stevenson’s The First Omen, a prequel to the original 1976 classic.
The First Omen is the franchise’s first movie since the lackluster remake back in 2006, which ended its worldwide box office run with $119 million. How will the new movie stack up?
In its debut weekend, The First Omen scared up $8.3 million in the States and another $9.1 million internationally, for a worldwide box office debut of $17,463,000.
For the sake of comparison, that worldwide number almost matches the domestic opening weekend total of The Omen back in 2006, which debuted to $16 million in the United States.
The reported production budget for The First Omen was $30 million – about $5 million more than the 2006 remake – so it needs to make quite a bit more before it’s profitable.
But the story here isn’t about box office but rather quality. Unlike the remake, The First Omen is an exceptional expansion on a classic, earning rave reviews across the board and impressing the hell out of all of us here at Bloody Disgusting. Meagan Navarro wrote in her review, “Thanks to the exquisite craftsmanship on display, beguiling Gothic horror, an impeccable cast, and an emotional journey that packs a wallop, The First Omen stands strong on its own.”
“Arkasha Stevenson doesn’t just helm a prequel worthy of Richard Donner’s classic but establishes herself as a bold new voice in horror,” Meagan’s 4-star review for BD continued.
The First Omen is now playing in theaters nationwide. Don’t miss it.
Nell Tiger Free stars in The First Omen.
In the film, “When a young American woman is sent to Rome to begin a life of service to the church, she encounters a darkness that causes her to question her own faith and uncovers a terrifying conspiracy that hopes to bring about the birth of evil incarnate.”
NEON has been absolutely slaying the marketing game for their horror output this year, and they’re kicking the Longlegs campaign into high gear with one more month until release.
A cryptic ad in The Seattle Times today (seen below) has led clever horror fans to discover TheBirthdayMurders.net, the brand new official viral marketing website for Longlegs.
The in-universe website details the victims of the serial killer known as Longlegs (Nicolas Cage), described as a “Satan-worshipping psycho” who has terrorized families throughout the Pacific Northwest for nearly three decades.
The website details, “A bloody trail of bodies here in the great state of Oregon attests to the depraved savagery of this one-of-a-kind serial killer. With over three dozen victims that we know of, LONGLEGS is one of the most prolific mass murderers ever to have graced the region, and his gruesome endeavors are the stuff of nightmares. At first, all of the killings appeared to be straightforward murder-suicides: the handiwork of average men who suddenly snapped and slaughtered their wives and children. But a series of eerie coded messages left at the crime scenes indicate that someone – or something – is influencing these horrific crimes. The cryptic letters are signed by someone calling himself LONGLEGS.”
“With thirty-eight kills to his name, LONGLEGS has torn apart the lives of eleven different families throughout the Beaver State. His victims were good people: honest fathers, decent mothers, innocent little children.”
The website is loaded with secrets, clues, and gruesome (faux) crime scene photos, and you might even find a mention of yours truly nestled in there. Poke around. Stay a while.
Longlegs arrives in theaters July 12.
The upcoming serial killer horror movie marks the return of director Osgood Perkins (The Blackcoat’s Daughter, Gretel & Hansel). Nicolas Cage stars alongside Maika Monroe, with Monroe playing an FBI agent and Cage playing a serial killer.
In the film, “FBI Agent Lee Harker (Monroe) is a gifted new recruit assigned to the unsolved case of an elusive serial killer (Cage). As the case takes complex turns, unearthing evidence of the occult, Harker discovers a personal connection to the merciless killer and must race against time to stop him before he claims the lives of another innocent family.
The film is rated “R” for “Bloody violence, disturbing images and some language.”
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