Next week, Universal will release the first major horror offering of the year, Wolf Man, continuing its partnership with Blumhouse. Major studios had a so-so time last year as far as the horror genre is concerned, with a string of releases, including a couple from Blumhouse, under-performing at the box office. Interestingly, several smaller titles, including a few that were distributed by smaller banners, fared much better commercially. Among the biggest surprises of the year was director Osgood Perkins' Longlegs, which emerged as the top-grossing movie in the history of Neon. And now, several months later, the film is poised to be overtaken by another arthouse title, director Robert Eggers' Nosferatu.

Longlegs concluded its domestic run with $74.3 million, and Nosferatu currently stands at $73.8 million, having already overtaken the likes of Terrifier 3 ($53 million) and Smile 2 ($68 million). The movie hasn't dropped below the $1 million mark in single-day earnings yet, and since it needs just $500,000 more to overtake Longlegs, it's safe to assume that it will accomplish this feat today. Once it does, it'll become the third-biggest horror film of 2024, behind Alien: Romulus and A Quiet Place: Day One, which, technically, combine several different genres. What this means is that Nosferatu will become the top-grossing "pure" horror movie of 2024 very soon.

It's already the highest-grossing film of Eggers' acclaimed career. The filmmaker broke out with the equally acclaimed The Witch a decade ago. The movie concluded its run with $40 million globally. Next, he directed the indescribable The Lighthouse, which earned a little less than $20 million worldwide. His last film was the historical epic The Northman, which grossed under $70 million worldwide against a reported budget of $90 million. It was, however, a major hit on PVOD platforms. Produced on a reported budget of $50 million, Nosferatu has already passed the $100 million mark globally.

'Nosferatu' Provided Textbook Counter-Programming Over the Christmas Period

The movie earned positive reviews, and currently holds a "fresh" 85% approval rating on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes. In his review, Collider's Jason Gorber called it "the best horror film of the year and easily one of 2024's best overall." Starring Bill Skarsg?rd, Lily-Rose Depp, Willem Dafoe, Nicholas Hoult, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Emma Corrin and others, Nosferatu is playing in theaters. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.

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