The Monkeyhas broken a surprising box office record. The 2025 horror movie, which is based on the 1980 Stephen King short story of the same name, was directed by Osgood Perkins, whose previous featureLonglegsgrossed a whopping $136.9 million against a budget of less than $10 million.The Monkeyfeatured a star-studded cast that includes Theo James, Christian Convery, Tatiana Maslany, Elijah Wood, Adam Scott, Sarah Levy, Rohan Campbell, and Perkins himself (who began his filmmaking career as an actor in movies such asPsycho IIandLegally Blonde).
Thetheatrical release ofThe Monkeykicked off on February 21 with an opening weekend haul of $14 million that saw it debut at No. 2 behind the sophomore weekend of the Marvel Cinematic Universe blockbusterCaptain America: Brave New World. It has since risen to a global total of $64.1 million, which makes itthe highest-grossing horror movie of 2025 so far. Additionally, it is the seventh highest-grossing movie of the year in general, behindMickey 17,Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy,Dog Man,Snow White,Captain America, andNe Zha 2.
Stephen King’s The Monkey Cast & Character Guide
The cast of Osgood Perkins' adaptation of Stephen King’s The Monkey includes two stars playing double roles and an ensemble full of familiar faces.
The Monkey Is Now The Highest-Grossing Stephen King Movie Featuring Annie Wilkes
Wilkes Is An Iconic Character From The Author’s Oeuvre
Unusually, by grossing $64.1 million,The Monkeyhas now become the highest-grossingStephen King moviefeaturing the character of Annie Wilkes. In the 2025 movie, Wilkes is seen as the teenage babysitter of Hal and Bill Shelburn (Convery), whose death at a hibachi restaurant traumatizes the twin brothers. However,Wilkes is best known as the antagonist of 1990’sMisery, in which the character - portrayed by Kathy Bates - kidnaps her favorite author, Paul Sheldon (James Caan). That movie, which was directed by Rob Reiner, only grossed $61.3 million worldwide.
At the time of writing,The Monkeyis the twelfth highest-grossing Stephen King adaptation of all time, outgrossing other classic titles such asCarrie(1976),Pet Sematary(1989),The Mist,Stand by Me,The Shining,The Shawshank Redemption,Cujo, andChristine.
Although Annie Wilkes' onscreen fate is very different from that of the text for which she is best known,The Monkey’s connection toMiserycontinuesa long-standing tradition of Stephen King’s work featuring major overlaps of both settings and characters. Perhaps most famously, the author has set many of his stories in the fictional Maine town of Castle Rock. However, there are many other recurring elements and characters that have appeared in his work over the years, including the villainous character Ace Merrill andThe Shining’s Overlook Hotel.
Misery Is Still A Bigger Movie For Annie Wilkes Than The Monkey
She Is Front And Center In The 1990 Movie
AlthoughMiseryhas been outgrossed byThe Monkey, the 1990 movie is still the one that better serves Annie Wilkes, who is one ofStephen King’s favorite charactersthat he has written. In addition to featuring the character front and center as the main antagonist rather than a cameo whose name is more of an indirect King reference than a proper canonical inclusion, the movie’s box office success (which more than tripled its roughly $20 million budget) is compounded by the fact thatit won Bates an Oscar for her performance as Wilkes.
The Monkey
Cast
The Monkey is a horror film focused on twin brothers who encounter a mysterious wind-up monkey responsible for a series of tragic events within their family. Twenty-five years later, the estranged brothers are compelled to face the cursed toy once again as it resumes its deadly rampage.
