Nicolas Cage's $126M Horror Movie With 86% RT Score Becomes Top 3 Streaming Hit

Nicolas Cage continues to have one of the most interesting careers in all of Hollywood. After appearing in movies like Raising Arizona (1987) and Moonstruck (1987), Cage became something of an action star in the '90s, playing the lead in The Rock (1996), Con Air (1997), and Face/Off (1997). Heading into the 2000s, however, pinning Cage down to just one genre became impossible.

On top of family-friendly fare like National Treasure (2004), Cage also appeared in the violent Lord of War (2005) before becoming a superhero in Ghost Rider (2007). The 2010s saw the actor regularly making three or four movies a year, many of which came and went with little fanfare, often earning poor reviews. After 2018's Mandy, however, Cage has experienced something of a comeback, starring in well-received movies like Pig (2021), The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (2022), and Dream Scenario (2023). In 2024, he continued this hot streak with a surprise horror hit.

Longlegs Has Become A Streaming Hit

The Nicolas Cage Horror Beats Some Big Titles

Nicolas Cage wearing prosthetics and staring intensely ahead as Longlegs.

Longlegs ascends to become a top-three streaming movie following its $126 million haul at the box office. Directed by Osgood Perkins, the horror film follows FBI agent Lee Harker's (Maika Monroe) investigation into a serial killer known only as Longlegs, played by Cage. Longlegs reviews were generally positive from critics and the film, which reportedly cost under $10 million to make, was a massive commercial success due to its viral marketing campaign and audience word-of-mouth.

Longlegs' Record-Breaking Box Office Explained: Breaking Down The Incredible $22.6 Million Opening

Nicolas Cage's Longlegs broke records at the box office during its opening weekend, and several reasons can account for the horror film's success.

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After finally releasing on streaming in the U.S. last week, Longlegs has become the third most popular movie on streaming for the week of February 13 – 19, according to new data from Reelgood. The film, which is available on Hulu, beats The Substance (2024), Aftermath (2024), and You're Cordially Invited (2025), but falls short of Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy (2025) and The Gorge (2025). When looking at all titles on streaming, including TV shows, Longlegs falls to ninth place. Check out the top 10 movies list below:

Reelgood Top 10 Streaming Movies (Feb. 13 – 19)
1	The Gorge
2	Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy
3	Longlegs
4	The Substance
5	Aftermath
6	You're Cordially Invited
7	Flow
8	Conclave
9	The Wild Robot
10	Kinda Pregnant

According to Reelgood, this top 10 list was assembled using "real-time, anonymized viewership data across all streaming platforms, using proprietary tracking technology to rank the most-watched titles based on actual engagement."

What Longlegs' Streaming Success Means For The Movie

Osgood Perkins Has A Bright Directing Future

The remains of a destroyed doll with its head broken and black smoke rising from it in the film Longlegs.

Longlegs has been streaming on Prime Video in Canada and on other services in other regions for a while now, but it only just came to streaming in the U.S. this past week. It's not entirely surprising that it has become a hit for Hulu given its recent launch, but a top three placement is still an impressive achievement given it was theatrically released back in July 2024. The movie's latest streaming victory is another win for Cage, whose transformational performance as Longlegs has been widely praised, including by Graeme Guttman in his review for ScreenRant:

Cage's performance is deranged enough. Longlegs' voice is one that won't be forgotten and the way Perkins deploys brief looks at him leading up to the big reveal raises the tension until it snaps like the crack of a broken bone.

Though Longlegs is undeniably a win for Cage and for Monroe, Perkins may be the one who most benefits from the film. Perkins' relationship with Neon now looks to be quite strong, and his new film, an adaptation of Stephen King's The Monkey, hits theaters this weekend and comes with a great deal of anticipation. And he already has another Neon horror film called Keeper, which is due out in October. Longlegs may have come out seven months ago now, but its impact clearly continues.

Source: Reelgood