Weekend Box Office: Black Phone 2 Enters the chat with $26 Million

We are just a couple weeks away from Halloween and another horror sequel took advantage of that. It’s about as high as the numbers get this weekend as it made more than the next four films on the list combined. One of the new openers in that grouping is an unfortunate reminder of the dire state of the “R”-rated comedy in a time when we should all be looking for a laugh.

KING of the Crop: The Grabber Dials in

When Scott Derrickson’s adaptation of Joe Hill’s The Black Phone hit theaters in June of 2022, it had the 13^th best opening of the year up to that point with $23.6 million. On the same weekend as Elvis’ $31.2 million. It went on to gross over $90 million domestic and $161 million globally. With an $18 million budget, it was second only to Smile amongst the most successful horror films of the year. 2025 has certainly turned into the year of horror profit with The Conjuring: Last Rites, Weapons, Final Destination: Bloodlines, and Sinners leading the way.

Derrickson’s Black Phone 2 arrives three years later with a mild downgrade with critics (74% vs. 81%) but a solid $26.5 million to lead the way just a couple of weeks before Halloween. Smile 2 opened on the same weekend last year to $23 million and went on to gross just over $69 million. It was second place on Halloween with competition from Terrifier 3 in third place. Black Phone 2 has a clear runway to horror’s holiday (which will be on a Friday this year) with no direct competition for the genre crowd unless they are busy seeing Bruce Springsteen or Colleen Hoover films or singing along to KPop Demon Hunters as Netflix just announced for that weekend. 

As long as word of mouth is decent, this should be able to make its way to at least $60 million. Both Zombieland films opened between $24-27 million and made their way to over $73 million. David Gordon Green’s The Exorcist: Believer began with $26.4 million and finished with over $65 million. Happy Death Day and Dracula Untold opened with $26 million and $23.5 million, respectively, and finished with $55.6 million and $56.2 million, respectively. Black Phone 2, with its increased $30 million budget, is certainly hoping for the Smile 2 run. Globally the film is at $42 million.

Rotten Returns: Aziz Ansari makes his directorial debut with good fortune

A few years ago, Sony platformed Dumb Money in September to the eventual tune of $13.9 million total domestic, which is neither here nor there other than Seth Rogen went from Dumb Money to Good Fortune, including winning several Emmys this year. Lionsgate’s release of Aziz Ansari’s feature directorial debut, with a 78% from critics, opened to just $6.2 million in third place. The modern Sullivan’s Travels/Trading Places riff with the added angel Keanu Reeves was made for a reported $30 million.

Angels in cinema over the years have ranged from comedies (Michael, Dogma) to romance (City of Angels, Date with an Angel) to horror (Legion, The Prophecy). Just to name a few. Don’t worry we certainly don’t forget classics like It’s a Wonderful Life or Wings of Desire either. But the focus will be less on “audiences want less angels” and more on “where is the audience for R-rated comedies?” Since the pandemic, here are the top grossers in that category.

Anyone But You ($88.3 million), Jackass Forever ($57.7 million), No Hard Feelings ($50.4 million), One Of Them Days ($50.0 million), Poor Things ($34.5 million), Asteroid City ($28.1 million), Strays ($23.9 million), Like a Boss ($22.1 million), American Fiction ($21.0 million), and The Holdovers ($20.3 million).

That may even be stretching the boundary of the comedy label but the marketplace has been so light for this brand of film that Yorgos Lanthimos, Wes Anderson, and Alexander Payne made the list. Not to mention Cord Jefferson who, when he won the screenplay Oscar for American Fiction, implored Hollywood to “instead of making one $200 million movie, try making 20 $10 million movies. Or 50 $4 million movies.” Which is great — as long as audiences show up. In a perfect world for Good Fortune, they would look at the miniscule $6 million that Anyone But You (the second worst-reviewed film in that group) opened to and expanded through word-of-mouth over the holidays to the top of that list. But this certainly is not a perfect world.

Tales of the top 10: TRON: Ares comes in second; Roofman remains in the top five

There’s another film that could have easily gone from the King of the Crop section straight into Rotten Returns this weekend. Disney certainly did not need another high-profile bomb after Snow White and Elio this year, but Tron: Ares is shaping up to be just that and then some. Not quite as dire as Snow but worse than Elio and a number that will take some focus off of One Battle After Another. A drop of 67% down to $11.1 million puts Ares at just $54.5 million after 10 days. That is the second worst sophomore weekend for an October release opening over $30 million. (Halloween Ends had an $8 million second weekend.) $100 million domestic is well off the table and with only another $48 million overseas, $200 million may be as well. China and Japan accounted for just under $43 million of Tron: Legacy’s international gross. Japan only chipped in $1.1 million last weekend and it opened in China this weekend to $2.8 million. Snow White had made $66.9 million in its first ten days after a $14.3 million second weekend. That could put Ares’ final total between $70-75 million domestic. Possibly less than ever Morbius.

Reports are starting to break on how Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another could be in the hole $100 million by the time it leaves theaters. As of now, it is still here in the top five, grossing $3.7 million this weekend. That brings its 24-day total to $61.9 million domestic. That is still a couple million ahead of Killers of the Flower Moon, keeping Battle on pace to break $70 million domestic. Globally, the film is past $162 million, which is more than any $130+ million Netflix project has made in theaters. The film is also now 35^th on the list we introduced last week of 2.5+ hour “R”-rated films; 19 of which have been nominated for Best Picture and six have won. Anderson’s film will also increase the numbers on one, or possibly both, of those lists.

Derek Cianfrance’s Roofman opened to just $8 million last weekend. This week, it is down to $3.7 million to bring its total to $15.5 million. That is a little over a million than the Justin Timberlake/Ben Affleck gambling film, Runner Runner, which had a $3.77 million second weekend. Continuing on that path could get the film just over $20 million total. As mentioned last week, that is right in the lane of Tatum’s previous three films, Magic Mike’s Last Dance, Fly Me to the Moon, and Blink Twice, which all finished between $20-26 million.

For the past five weeks, there have been at least three horror films in the top ten. This week we are down to two, with the leading Black Phone 2 and the concluding The Conjuring: Last Rites, which is in its seventh weekend of release and has passed $175 million domestic and $305 million internationally for a total of $482 million. Even if it comes up short of hitting the half-a-billion mark, it has already made it into the top five highest-grossing horror films of all-time, inflation notwithstanding.

Luca Guadagnino’s After the Hunt opened to $158,679 in six theaters last weekend. The $26,447 per theater average was the 8^th best of the year (and fourth best amongst limited releases) for films released in at least two venues. This week, it expanded to 1,300 theaters, where the Julia Roberts-led drama grossed just $1.56 million. When his film, Bones and All (82%), moved from five theaters into 2,727 in its second weekend, it made just $3.6 million. That and Challengers (88%) are the only films that made it into as many theaters as Hunt, though the new one is also the worst-reviewed film on his resume to date, with a 44%. Hunt certainly won’t reach the $18 million made by his Oscar player, Call Me By Your Name (95%), but it may even struggle to best last year’s Queer (78%), with Daniel Craig, which made $3.7 million and was in never more than 460 theaters.

Rounding out the rest of the top ten, the latest from Angel Studios is in sixth place. Truth & Treason made $2.72 million and is actually the second-best reviewed film (92%) in their three-year history. Their best was this year’s family film, Sketch (97%), which grossed just a total of $8.1 million. Angel’s last three releases, including Sketch and The Senior, all opened between $2.4-2.72 million. Last week’s faith-based drama, Soul On Fire, fell to $1.3 million, bringing its total to $5.5 million. Finally, Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie made $1.6 million, driving its domestic total to $29.9 million. Getting over $30 million here and $58 million globally are minor consolations for the $32 million production. 

Beyond the top ten: Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – Infinity Castle leaves the chat 

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – Infinity Castle ends its top ten run with $1.3 million and over $131 million domestic. With over $659 million worldwide, we currently have a global top five for 2025 that includes this and Ne Zha 2 combining for $2.55 billion.

It is limited release season and this week we have Kelly Reichardt’s The Mastermind (91%),mwith Josh O’Connell, in five theaters. The Mubi release grossed $104,000. Jafar Panahi’s It Was Just an Accident (97%) made $68,000 in three theaters and Richard Linklater’s Blue Moon, with Ethan Hawke and Margaret Qualley, opened to $67,000 in five theaters.

Todd Rohal’s Fuck My Son! from Cartuna, which played the Toronto Film Festival and Fantastic Fest, is going the roadshow route and promising to never be available to watch online. In four late shows at New York’s IFC Center this weekend, it grossed $8,500. Next weekend, it moves to Los Angeles. Texas the week after, followed by Brooklyn, San Francisco, and Chicago, and continues with a string of bookings into next February.

On the Vine: Jeremy Allen White Transforms into Bruce Springsteen

Jeremy Allen White steps into the shoes of the legendary rocker in Scott Cooper’s Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere. The film is hoping to follow in the footsteps of other successful music biopics as well as be an awards player this season. After its showings at Telluride and the New York Film Festival, the film has a 74% with critics. After last year’s success of It Ends With Us, Paramount is hoping their Colleen Hoover adaptation, Regretting You, strikes a chord with audiences. (So far, they aren’t screening the film for press.) Finally, the latest film from Yorgos Lanthimos, with Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons, Bugonia, hits theaters in a limited release before going wide the following.

Full List of Box Office Results: October 17-19, 2025

1. Black Phone 2 – $26.5 million ($26.5 million total)
2. Tron: Ares – $11.1 million ($54.5 million total)
3. Good Fortune – $6.2 million ($6.2 million total)
4. One Battle After Another – $4.0 million ($61.9 million total)
5. Roofman – $3.7 million ($15.5 million total)
6. Truth & Treason – $2.7 million ($2.7 million total)
7. The Conjuring: Last Rites – $2.9 million ($172.4 million total)
8.  After the Hunt – $1.56 million ($1.7 million total)
9. Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie – $3.3 million ($26.4 million total)
10. Soul On Fire – $3.0 million ($3.0 million total) 

Erik Childress can be heard each week evaluating box office on Business First AM with Angela Miles and his Movie Madness Podcast. [box office figures via Box Office Mojo]

Thumbnail image by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures / courtesy Everett Collection

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