Black Phone 2 raises $42 million globally and brings optimism back to Blumhouse

Universal y Blumhouse have managed to reverse a worrying trend with the premiere of Black Phone 2which managed to gross $26.5 million in its opening weekend in North America and $15.5 million in the rest of the world, reaching a global total of approximately $42 million.

Ethan Hawke reprises the role of the brooding Grabber under the direction of Scott Derricksonin a film that not only surpassed the release of its predecessor, but also became the biggest immediate success of Blumhouse so far in 2025.

October is usually a strong time for horror films, but this year the box office has shown an especially slow pace, with a decrease of 11% compared to the same period in 2024. In this context, the premiere of Black Phone 2 stands out even more: not only did it slightly surpass the release of the original film, which in 2022 grossed $23 million, but it also led a weekend with very little competition.

Until now, 2025 had been a difficult year for Blumhouse. movies like Wolf Man, M3GAN 2.0, Drop y The Woman in the Yard They did not meet expectations of success, registering global collections below 40 million dollars. The predominance of minor or discreet releases and the growth of streaming had weakened the position of Blumhouse as a constant producer of low-budget hits. For this reason, the arrival of Black Phone 2 is even more relevant for the study.

With a budget of 30 million dollars, a figure higher than that of the first Black Phone (18 million dollars), the new film needed to exceed 75 million dollars globally to guarantee its profitability only with exhibition in theaters, considering that the income is distributed approximately in half between studios and theater chains. The $42 million earned in just three days suggests that this goal is achievable, and the film could become the studio’s first major theatrical success in 2025.

In contrast, the rest of the premieres failed to attract the public’s attention in the same way. The comedy Good Fortunedirected and starring Aziz Ansari next to Keanu Reeves y Seth Rogengrossed $6.2 million, well below its $30 million budget. Science fiction cinema also did not generate large influxes. Tron: Ares It totaled 11.1 million dollars, but registered a drop of 66% compared to its previous opening week and needs to remain in theaters for many more weeks to compensate for its high budget of 180 million dollars.

Blumhouse’s renewed success appears at a difficult time for the industry, which is still struggling to recover pre-pandemic box office levels, with a negative difference of 20% compared to 2019. The fact that Black Phone 2 has already surpassed other productions from the same studio, including the highly promoted M3GAN 2.0reveals the difficulty of finding new franchises or original projects that conquer a mass audience.

Blumhouse hopes to repeat the success in December with another sequel: Five Nights at Freddy’s 2continuation of a previously successful title. The performance of these new deliveries will be decisive in defining whether a sustained recovery is really taking place, or if, on the contrary, the shocking premiere of Black Phone 2 It will end up being an exception in a particularly uncertain year for the film sector.