Universal and Blumhouse’s Black Phone 2 dialed up $2.6 million in previews Thursday at 2,900 theaters from showtimes that began at 2 p.m. That’s just under the $3M the original 2021 movie pulled in before bowing to $23.6M.
Black Phone 2 previews are in line with that of Paramount’s Smile 2, which opened in the same weekend a year ago with $2.5M in previews and a three-day total of $23M.
The hope is that Blumhouse, after seeing a lackluster streak in a horror-laden box office year for the industry, can actually get a break and post an opening that’s robust. The Scott Derrickson-directed sequel is figured to land between $20M-$30M. Reviews are solid at 74% certified fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. The first Black Phone was 81% with RT critics and had a B+ CinemaScore.
The setup for Black Phone 2 is that Ethan Hawke’s The Grabber is out there in the real world, not holed up in some neighborhood house in 1970s suburbia. Watch out. Production cost for Black Phone 2 is net $30M.
After the less-than-par opening for Disney’s Tron: Ares, and sophisticated adult movies in free-fall (I’m sorry, One Battle After Another is the exception and faring better at a near $58M than everything in its wake, i.e., Roofman, A Big Bold Beautiful Journey, Caught Stealing, etc.), it’s doldrums time at the autumn box office, though according to ComScore for, from Labor Day through last Sunday, the season is flat with a year ago at $770.7M. It would be nice to finally see a movie meet its tracking forecast.
Meanwhile, Lionsgate has the comedy Good Fortune, directed by and starring Aziz Ansari along with Keanu Reeves and Seth Rogen. It’s expected to ring up under $10M at 2,985 locations. The movie cost a net $30 million in line with other Lionsgate movies; the pic, you’ll remember, was impacted by a start-and-stop with the writers and actors strikes. Coming out of its TIFF world premiere, Good Fortune is 79% fresh. Previews last night were $725,000 at 2,990 sites. Note that Roofman, another adult-skewing (largely guys, ironically, for a Channing Tatum movie) title last week, did $1M in previews before posting an $8M start.
Check out our interview below with Ansari at our TIFF studio:
Disney’s Tron: Ares ends the week with $43.4M, a number many were hopeful the net $180M production would open at. This movie is pacing slightly behind another Jared Leto sci-fi property, also with a finite fan base, 2017’s Blade Runner 2049, which posted a first week of $45.4M. Blade Runner 2049 with an A- CinemaScore held at -53% in weekend 2 with $15.4M, and Tron: Ares is expected to be steeper with -60% off its B+ CinemaScore. Tron Ares will keep the Imax and majority of PLFs and their great showtimes this weekend.
This week’s top 5
- Tron Ares (Dis) 4,000 theaters, Thu $1.5M (-20% from Wed), Week $43.4M/Wk 1
- Roofman (Par) 3,362 theaters, Thu $567K (-23%), Week $11.8M/Wk 1
- One Battle After Another (WB) 3,127 theaters, Thu $545K (-19% from Wed), Wk $10.1M (-38%), Total $57.9M/Wk 3
- Gabby’s Dollhouse (Uni) 3,049 theaters, Thu $192K (-8%), Wk $5.2M (-21%), Total $28.2M/Wk 3
- Conjuring: Last Rites (NL/WB) 2,334 theaters, Thu $195K (-25%), Wk $4.36M (-24%), Total $173.8M/Wk 6
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