Stephen King’s “Bats--t Insane” Horror Adaptation Is Officially One Of The Biggest Movies In The World

Published Oct 5, 2026, 8:00 PM EDT

While ever present in the horror genre in print and on screen, this month has already become a very busy one for King, with everything from the five-season mystery series Haven to the widely panned Lawnmower Man enjoying streaming redemptions. All the while, the author is also releasing the third installment in his Talisman trilogy, Other Worlds Than These, and Mike Flanagan's Carrie adaptation hits Prime Video on October 7.

The latest King adaptation to make its way back to streaming's top charts is that of The Monkey. Written and directed by Osgood Perkins, the film brings the 1980 short story to life and centers on Hal Shelburn, a man haunted by his past involving a mysterious wind-up monkey that seemingly causes bizarre deaths to happen, and is in a race against time to stop it when it suddenly resurfaces.

Led by Theo James in a dual twin role alongside Christian Convery, Tatiana Maslany, Colin O'Brien, Rohan Campbell, Sarah Levy, Elijah Wood and Adam Scott, The Monkey scored generally positive reviews from critics, and from King himself, who commended the darkly comedic horror adaptation for being "bats--t insane." The film was also a solid box office performer, grossing nearly $69 million against its reported $11 million production budget and becoming one of Neon's all-time hits.

The Monkey Is Driving HBO Max Mad On The Global Top 10

Now, nearly two years after the film first hit theaters, The Monkey is banging its toy drum to climb its way up global streaming charts. At the time of writing, per FlixPatrol, the King adaptation sits in the No. 6 position on HBO Max's Global Top 10 Movies chart, sitting just ahead of the Liam Neeson-led action sequel Ice Road: Vengeance at No. 7 and just behind the Bulgarian thriller The Therapy at No. 7.

This certainly isn't the first time that The Monkey has enjoyed success on streaming, having immediately become a hit in mid-2025 after premiering on both Disney+ and Hulu, where it is available to stream in the United States. Internationally, it has also frequently made its way to the Top 10 on everything from Netflix to Amazon Prime and Apple VOD.

Will There Ever Be A Monkey Sequel?

As previously noted, The Monkey quickly established itself as an all-time box office sensation, even with just a modest $68.8 million haul. The horror adaptation sits in the No. 3 spot on Neon's all-time highest-grossing movie chart, situated behind the four-time Oscar-winning Parasite's $258 million gross and Perkins' own Longlegs clocking in at an impressive $128 million.

With this success, and a strong critical reception, one would almost have expected there to be a Monkey sequel quickly put forth by Neon to follow up on that. Ultimately, the biggest reason that one hasn't been produced is that Perkins himself never openly expressed interest in developing a sequel to any of his works unless it could feel different. This likely came as a disappointment to some after the Monkey's wild ending, in which Bill, Hal and the latter's son Petey seemingly start an apocalyptic event, and the latter pair see the Pale Horseman.

Interestingly, around the same time of The Monkey's release, the writer/director cited Longlegs as one he wasn't sure he'd ever make a follow-up to for the same reason, only for a new movie with him and Nicolas Cage returning now in the works. As such, the door may never be fully closed for King's chilling wind-up toy to make its way back to the screen at some point in the future.