I Did not See This Coming — And Neither Did You
I will be trustworthy. Once I first heard Stephen King’s The Monkey was being tailored for the display, I raised an eyebrow. Perhaps each. It is not that I doubted the story’s potential. However The Monkey? That weird 1980 brief story a couple of cymbal-clapping toy that spells loss of life? It did not precisely scream “record-breaking hit.” But right here we’re.
$64.1 million later, it is formally the highest-grossing horror film of 2025 and—plot twist!—probably the most profitable Stephen King film that includes Annie Wilkes, dethroning the Oscar-winning Distress. And the way it acquired right here? That is the place the actual story begins.
The Monkey Did not Simply Climb — It Swung Over Giants
Let us take a look at the numbers. The Monkey, with a $63 million price range, pulled in $14 million its opening weekend. Not staggering, however strong—particularly with the behemoth Captain America: Courageous New World hogging the highest spot. However then one thing occurred.
Phrase unfold. Quick.
By mid-March, it had topped $64.1 million globally, outgrossing Distress‘s $61.3 million haul and turning into the twelfth highest-grossing Stephen King adaptation of all time. That is greater than Carrie. Greater than The Shining. Even greater than The Shawshank Redemption. Yeah. Let that sink in.
The Actual Plot Twist? Annie Wilkes Is not Even the Star
Here is the uncomfortable reality: The Monkey did not beat Distress by doing Distress higher. In truth, Annie Wilkes—Stephen King’s most iconic villain, dropped at disturbing life by Kathy Bates—is not even entrance and heart.
She’s a babysitter cameo. A reminiscence. A callback. Like Alfred Hitchcock sneaking onto a prepare within the background, Wilkes in The Monkey is extra reference than revelation. And but, she helped promote tickets.
Why? Nostalgia. And a intelligent little factor referred to as the King Multiverse.
The Stephen King Cinematic Universe (SKCU?) Is Actual — And It is Making Financial institution
Marvel did it with heroes. King does it with horror.
Fortress Rock. Derry. The Overlook Lodge. These aren’t simply settings—they’re landmarks on a shared nightmare map. And savvy followers? They’re cartographers. They arrive prepared with Reddit threads and tinfoil hats, searching for Easter eggs like Annie Wilkes.
The Monkey leaned into this. Onerous. It knew that mentioning Wilkes—nevertheless briefly—would faucet into Distress‘s legacy and provide viewers a breadcrumb path right into a wider King-verse.
Like a Netflix algorithm, Hollywood recycles concepts till they’re stale. However King’s tales? They’re sourdough. They ferment. Evolve. Get higher if you least anticipate it.
Osgood Perkins Simply Schooled Hollywood
The actual mastermind right here? Director Osgood Perkins.
The son of Norman Bates himself (Anthony Perkins), Osgood is a style craftsman. His earlier movie Longlegs raked in $136.9 million on a shoestring price range. So he is aware of the way to stretch a greenback—and a scream.
With The Monkey, Perkins took a bizarre little brief story, forged stars like Theo James, Tatiana Maslany, Elijah Wooden, and Adam Scott, and made it really feel mythic. Not It-level bloated. Simply mythic sufficient.
He layered psychological dread with spectral horror. Made us care about twin brothers. Made us miss a babysitter who dies in a hibachi restaurant. And yeah, he teased Distress simply sufficient to gentle the fuse.
Is This the Way forward for Horror? Previous IP, New Blood
Think about if Quentin Tarantino directed Pet Sematary.
That is the sort of reimagining we’re seeing now. Studios aren’t simply remaking King—they’re reinterpreting him. Like jazz. Or TikTok remixes.
And audiences? They’re into it.
Why? As a result of it is acquainted, however not stale. King’s works are being handled much less like books and extra like mythology. His characters—Pennywise, Wilkes, Carrie—aren’t simply horror figures. They’re archetypes. Shakespearean. Virtually Marvel-like.
And The Monkey proves you needn’t put them entrance and heart. You simply must respect the lore.
However Let’s Not Neglect Distress Walked So The Monkey Might Run
This win for The Monkey is not a knock on Distress. That movie is a masterclass. Bates received an Oscar. Rob Reiner delivered pure dread with no single ghost or monster. Distress was minimalist horror at its peak.
However that was 1990.
In 2025, horror wants cross-pollination. Intertextuality. Meta-winks. Even a toy monkey that kills you if it claps twice.
So What’s Subsequent? A Revival of the Kingverse?
If The Monkey can flip a brief story right into a smash, what else is ripe?
- Survivor Kind? A one-man-show of cannibalistic survival?
- The Jaunt? Sci-fi horror that would make Interstellar appear like a seashore trip?
- Evening Shift? Anthology heaven.
And possibly… simply possibly… an actual Distress prequel? A younger Annie Wilkes origin story? Suppose Joker, however for bookworms.
Annie Wilkes as soon as shattered kneecaps with a sledgehammer and received our hearts. The Monkey simply whispered her title and cracked open a vault.
Do you assume it earned it? Or is nostalgia doing the heavy lifting?
