It has been a tough year at the box-office for Blumhouse, but the Grabber has saved the day with an above-expectations opening of $26.5M for Scott Derrickson’s Black Phone 2.
We called Black Phone 2 “another vicious treat, complete with a chilly and gory showdown on ice to remember” in our ★★★ review (which you can read here), and it appears that audiences agree, because the horror sequel bested the original’s opening by almost $3 million, grossing a total of $42 million worldwide, against a budget of just $30 million.
The gross brings to an end to a truly horrific run of returns for Jason Blum’s Universal-housed production company, which included January misfire Wolf Man ($35M) and culminated in one of the year’s biggest disappointments in M3GAN 2.0 ($39M).
It wasn’t such good news for another new release about people coming back from the dead, with Aziz Anzari’s debut feature Good Fortune, starring Seth Rogen, Keke Palmer, Sandra Oh and Keanu Reeves as a returning angel, stiffing with just $6.2 million at the domestic box-office.
That wasn’t enough to lift it above Disney’s sequel that nobody asked for, Tron: Ares, which suffered a digital puncture and skidded to just $11.1 million for its sophomore frame. The $180 million budgeted sequel currently stands at just $103 million worldwide.
You can see the full rundown over at Box Office Mojo, but as always let us know what you watched at the multiplex this weekend by heading to our social channels @FlickeringMyth…
