Last summer, when Osgood “Oz” Perkins’ Longlegs grossed nearly $127 million against a sub-$10 million budget, the writer-director had already wrapped its two follow-ups for Neon. The Monkey, which opens in theaters on Feb. 21, was actually the third film he shot in his recent genre trio that includes the aforementioned Longlegs and October 2025’s Keeper. Producers James Wan (via Atomic Monster) and Peter Safran (via Tsc) approached Perkins about adapting Stephen King’s short story about a lethal toy monkey, but the stern tone of the existing script on file was at odds with the filmmaker’s own instincts for such a movie.

Consequently, Perkins decided to pursue the subgenre of horror-comedy, which tends to be a tough sell within the studio system. That proved to be the case once more when a major studio balked at his tragicomedy take. (One can surmise that The Monkey was originally at WB/New...