Black Phone 2 Rings Up $2.6M in Previews—Good Fortune Climbs to $725K

Blumhouse might finally be catching a break. After a rough stretch, Scott Derrickson's Black Phone 2 looks like it could actually win the weekend. Early numbers are solid, and if they hold, this might be the studio's first real bounce-back in a bit.

By the numbers

• Black Phone 2 pulled in $2.6 million from Thursday previews. If momentum keeps up, the sequel is tracking around $18 million domestic for the weekend, with some chatter it could crack $20 million.
• For comparison: the first Black Phone launched in that post-peak-pandemic theater landscape, did $3 million in previews, and reached $23.6 million in North America after that.
• On the other side of the release slate, Lionsgate and Aziz Ansari's Good Fortune banked $725,000 in previews. It cost $30 million, and expectations are in the mid-to-high seven-figure range for opening weekend.

Blumhouse could use the win

The studio's had a few stumbles lately, and MEGAN 2.0 was the ugly one: $39 million worldwide against the original's $180 million global haul. Not great. If Black Phone 2 overperforms, it won't erase that, but it does change the narrative heading into fall.

So what is Black Phone 2 actually about?

Ethan Hawke is back as The Grabber, and yes, the guy is more dangerous now that he's dead. The story follows siblings Finney (he's 17 now and sometimes goes by Finn) and Gwen (15), who are still dealing with the fallout from Finney's abduction. Gwen starts getting dream-call messages from that cursed black phone and visions of three boys being hunted at a winter camp called Alpine Lake. She pushes Finney to head there during a snowstorm to figure out what's going on, and what they dig up ties The Grabber to their family in a way they did not see coming. The big swing: the killer's presence isn't gone; it's evolved.

'A killer who has grown more powerful in death'

Cast: who's back, who's new

Returning players:

Mason Thames (How to Train Your Dragon) is back as Finney Shaw, with Madeleine McGraw (Secrets of Sulphur Springs) as his sister Gwen. Jeremy Davies (Justified) returns as their dad, Terrence. Ethan Hawke (Moon Knight) once again puts on the mask as The Grabber.

One quirky casting note: Miguel Mora, whose only previous credit is The Black Phone, shows up again — but not as Robin, Finney's friend who died in the first movie. This time, he's playing a new character named Ernesto.

New faces include Demián Bichir (The Hateful Eight), Arianna Rivas (A Working Man), and Anna Lore (Final Destination: Bloodlines).

Meanwhile, about Good Fortune...

Aziz Ansari's film, released by Lionsgate, comes with a stacked lineup — Seth Rogen, Ansari, Keke Palmer, Sandra Oh, and Keanu Reeves — and a $30 million price tag. Those $725K previews suggest a modest start, but it could still find an audience if word of mouth is kind.

Bottom line: if Black Phone 2 lands where it's aiming, Blumhouse and Derrickson could own this weekend's box office conversation. We'll see how those Friday and Saturday numbers shake out.