The Marvel Cinematic Universe is cruising toward its big Multiverse Saga finale with Avengers: Doomsday being released next year and Avengers: Secret Wars following that. There are a lot of questions about what’s going to happen after that, but a new rumor claims that one of those projects will be Doctor Strange 3.

A report from Nexus Point News claims Doctor Strange 3 is in early development at Marvel Studios, with plans to start production sometime after Secret Wars. While this is only a rumor and should be taken with as many magically produced grains of salt as you have to muster, the rumor does have some interesting elements, especially as in regards to the director Benedict Cumberbatch is allegedly interested in.

Benedict Cumberbatch Reportedly Wants An Oscar-Winning Filmmaker For Doctor Strange 3

According to the rumor, Doctor Strange himself, Benedict Cumberbatch, is interested in bringing Sam Mendes on board to helm the third installment of the franchise. It would be an interesting choice to say the least. Mendes has never done a big blockbuster comic book movie, but who wouldn't want to see his take on it?

Mendes would be a great choice, and I'd love to see it happen if this is at all true. As he's proven, Mendes can certainly jump into an existing franchise and make magic. To that point, he directed Skyfall, one of the best James Bond movies ever. The director -- who won an Academy Award for American Beauty -- also got a real creative flair that would be fitting for a Doctor Strange movie, as he showed off in his "one take" movie, 1917.

The biggest hurdle to getting Mendes for Doctor Strange 3 would be the schedule. Mendes is currently involved in his massive four-film Beatles biopic project, which is expected to start shooting soon, and won’t be hitting theaters until 2028. So Mendes is going to be pretty busy and, if Strange 3 is planned to be an early Phase 7 (my god, are we really talking about Phase 7) project, the British director may simply not be available in the right window.

If Sam Mendes were to actually be hired, he would also be something of a break from tradition, as the two previous directors for Doctor Strange movies, Scott Derrickson and Sam Raimi, have been known for their horror movie skills. Horror is one genre Mendes has never really dealt with. This could indicate a planned change in tone for the franchise.

The Future Of Doctor Strange In The MCU Is Murky

Of course, another big question is in what state the MCU will find Doctor Strange after the Multiverse Saga ends. At this point, we don’t even know if or when we’ll see Cumberbatch’s character in the Avengers projects. Initially, the actor was implying he wouldn’t be in Doomsday. Then he was saying he would be, but his name was not among those revealed in the big Avengers: Doomsday cast announcement.

The other key elements of this rumor that are important, assuming any of it is actually true, are to indicate there will even be a Doctor Strange 3, and that Cumberbatch plans to continue with the character. There are expectations that many Marvel roles will be recast following Avengers: Secret Wars, so we'll have to wait and see what happens moving forward.

In the meantime, stream the first two films in the Doctor Strange franchise, along with other MCU films, using a Disney+ subscription.

Mild spoilers below for Black Phone 2 and for the 1983 slasher, Curtains, so be warned if you haven’t seen either film.

Though not nearly as dark and foreboding a film as its predecessor, Scott Derrickson’s stellar sequel Black Phone 2 is obviously no walk in the park, with Ethan Hawke’s child killer, The Grabber, reaching out to Mason Thames’ Finney to wreak havoc from beyond the grave. The film pleased most critics, and it won its first weekend at the box office, making it clear that Derrickson was right to follow up one of his own films for the first time.

Arguably the most memorable shot in snow-covered film, as teased in the trailers, sees the masked monster in ice skates, gliding across frozen water with entirely surreal menace. Taken out of context, it’s a bafflingly whimsical shot, but that whimsy somehow remains intact even when all of the context is added in, especially when showcased through the grainy warmth of 8mm film. As it turns out, that shot was directly inspired by a lesser-known Canadian horror from the early ‘80s, Curtains, which I’d somehow never seen before. So, let’s dig in.

Black Phone 2's Ice-Skating Grabber Is Indeed A Direct Nod To A Scene In The Movie Curtains

For all my horror fandom and knowledge, I was completely clueless about any inspirational source material while watching Black Phone 2 during its world premiere at Fantastic Fest 2025. I just continued thinking it was pretty random for a malevolent phantom to be so graceful. As such, I was especially intrigued and thankful when, during the post-screening Q&A, director Scott Derrickson confirmed that the skating Grabber visuals were influenced entirely by the 1983 slasher Curtains, a movie that was previously only familiar to me through its VHS box cover and being namechecked in convos alongside Sleepaway Camp and other cult faves from the era.

To be sure, Black Phone 2 wears a lot of its horror influences on its long snow-covered sleeves, and goes heavy on A Nightmare on Elm Street's sequels, but an ice-skating masked killer holding a weapon goes far beyond just a thematic homage. So, as soon the temperature here in Texas dropped to "I won't sweat just standing still," it felt like the perfect time for a screening.

I Watched Curtains, But I Still Don't Know WTF I Watched

Ostensibly a movie about madness, ego, and...more madness, Curtains centers on a group of women staying in the mansion of a manipulative filmmaker while vying for a part in his new movie about a mentally unstable woman. His entire mode of directing seems to follow Stanley Kubrick and Alfred Hitchcock's methods of putting actors and actresses through legitimately stressful experiences for the sake of a performance. Then the bodies start dropping, and in ways that are pretty impossible to predict by slasher movie standards.

Here are a few of my quick observations:

• "Stryker" is without a doubt a kickass name for a main character, but a weird one for everyone to use when talking to a movie director.
• John Vernon sounds uncannily like Leslie Nielsen, and with his name being Stryker, it make me want to rewatch Airplane!
• The women in this movie scream uncomfortably loudly for an uncomfortably long amount of time. If I'd hear this movie coming through a neighbor's window, I'd think someone inside that house was overdramatizing their own murder.
• Stryker telling Samantha to seduce him while wearing the hag mask is one of the weirdest things I've seen in a movie this year, or any year.
• People getting shot to death in a slasher movie always feels a little like genre blasphemy.
• I cannot believe after the doll stuff earlier in the movie that the climax takes place in a room full of mannequins.
• I halfway suspected one of Curtains' reveals but did NOT expect such an odd double twist.

To be clear, those were the thoughts I had that weren't just "What the fuck are they talking about?" and "Why is she just standing there looking at that?" which happened often enough. All in all, despite being very rough around the edges and the middle and other spots, Curtains kind of rocks for being so brazenly unlike the bulk of masked killer thrillers. It's not a vibe I'd frequent, but one I'd welcome when the time is right.

The Movie's Behind-The-Scenes Problems Were Definitely To Blame (Or Champion) For Its Uneven Charms

I won't go into full details here, but suffice to say Curtains did not have an easy road from conception to completion. Screenwriter Robert Guza Jr. and producer Peter R. Simpson crafted the story to more or less adopt the same tone as recent hit Prom Night, though director Richard Ciupka had different goals in mind, with a vision that skewed closer to Italy's giallo films. (Lots of hands, gloved and otherwise.)

Such conflicts of interest are far from rare, but in this case, Ciupka was driven to quit the project entirely during the middle of filming, and to later have his credited name replaced by that of the character Jonathan Stryker. Over the next two years, Simpson and others went through multiple script rewrites and reshoots in order to both reshape what was already shot, and to actually finish the rest of the movie.

Despite being largely panned upon its release, Curtains has quite a dedicated fanbase behind it these days, with Black Phone 2 director Scott Derrickson being a noteworthy member. Now, finally, I can join that group as well. I cannot ice skate for shit, though.

For those who like to turn up the scares this time of year, there are plenty of upcoming horror movies set to hit the 2025 movie calendar this month and beyond. Among those is Black Phone 2, the sequel to the 2022 book-to-screen adaptation of a Joe Hill short story. Scott Derrickson has returned as director and co-screenwriter, with Ethan Hawke back as The Grabber. Mason Thames, Madeleine McGraw and Jeremy Davies also reprise their roles. So what are critics saying?

The first movie got positive feedback from critics — including 4.5 out of 5 stars from our own Corey Chichizola — so how does the sequel measure up? Well, it’s “better,” if you ask Stephen King, and in CinemaBlend’s review of Black Phone 2, Nick Venable would agree, saying the follow-up is “haunting, hypnotic, and surpasses all my expectations.” He gives it 4 out of 5 stars, writing:

Jordan Bassett of NME also rates it 4 out of 5 stars, saying Scott Derrickson goes even bigger with the sequel, dialing up the menace for a flick that’s bloodier than its predecessor. The critic says:

Matt Donato of IGN gives it a “Good” 7 out of 10 and says Black Phone 2 is proof that horror sequels don’t have to be retreads of the original and can instead go further to push for standalone appeal. Donato continues:

Peter Debruge of Variety is one of many critics to find parallels between the upcoming Blumhouse horror and A Nightmare on Elm Street, due to how dreams are involved in both movies. The critic notes that while The Black Phone is about the threat of violence and abuse, its sequel deals with the trauma of surviving these things, not just for the victims but for their families. Debruge writes:

Not all of the critiques are so positive, though. Matt Singer of ScreenCrush says he was not grabbed by this horror flick and its outdated technology. He rates the movie 4 out of 10 and says:

Overall, critics seem to have enjoyed Black Phone 2, as it stands at 78% on Rotten Tomatoes’ Tomatometer. If you enjoyed the first movie and want to catch up with Finney, Gwen and The Grabber, the sequel will be in theaters starting Friday, October 17. If you haven’t seen The Black Phone (or want a refresher), the movie is available to stream with a Peacock subscription.

Black Phone 2 is a rare breed from top to bottom. For one, it’s the only time director Scott Derrickson’s crafted a follow-up to one of his own films, and while the first was an expansion of a short story from horror maven Joe Hill, the second is only based on an idea that Hill had in mind. Ninety-nine times out of 100, that would start a recipe for disaster, but The Grabber’s return is haunting, hypnotic, and surpasses all my expectations.

In fact, Black Phone 2 is Derrickson’s most mature film to date and sits among the few horror sequels that outperforms its predecessor in just about every way. The cast, headed up once again by Mason Thames and Madeleine McGraw, takes it to the next level in the same way that the story does, convincingly giving Finney and Gwen the chance to prove themselves as genuine heroes on top of being survivors. And of course, Ethan Hawke commands attention every time he’s on screen donning tweaked versions of The Grabber’s already iconic mask.

Defying all the usual horror sequel tropes and avoiding nearly all of the expected trip-ups, Black Phone 2 is a breath of fresh and snowy air that has more heart, more humor, and more humanity than a lot of non-genre films hitting theaters this year. But let me now admit something that I’m kind of ashamed to say in hindsight: I didn’t actually feel quite this positive immediately after watching, and this review would have been a vastly different beast had I not had the time to let all those thoughts simmer.

Black Phone 2 is so different from The Black Phone that I initially questioned its very existence.

I had the privilege of watching Black Phone 2 among other highly invested horror fans for the world premiere at Fantastic Fest 2025, and the energy for the movie was palpable – not only in my screening room, but across the entire theater. For good reason, too, since it’s precisely the kind of movie that festival is known for, down to the throwback Universal logo that kicks things all off. What it isn’t, though, is a lazily crafted shadow of its predecessor.

Four years have passed since Finney walked out of The Grabber’s twisted hovel as the serial killer’s only known survivor, and he’s clearly dealing with that trauma in certain ways that reflect the events that came before. (Namely, beating the stuffing out of whoever deserves it.) However, the high schooler isn’t the only one being paranormally targeted this time around, as his sister Gwen’s psychic abilities also put her in the path of The Grabber’s beyond-the-grave wrath.

Rather than once again limiting the core events to a single location, Derrickson and his go-to co-writer C. Robert Cargill expand the scope of the story through Gwen’s visions. She sees the spectres of various children who’d suffered violent deaths and are being kept from moving on to the great beyond. An investigation leads them to the winter ski camp Alpine Lodge, with noteworthy elements including its supervisor Armando, portrayed by Demián Bichir, and a phone booth that hasn’t worked (properly) in over a decade.

So much of the film from this point on heavily incorporates Gwen’s visions and dreams, visually indicated by the switch from traditional film to the extremely grainy and slightly ethereal look of Super 8, which Derrickson utilizes in both bold and subtle ways – particularly when Gwen is being hunted and taunted by Ethan Hawke’s exceedingly toxic wraith. Even at its spookiest, the aesthetic maintains a warmth (perhaps ironically) where the first film often made me feel left out in the cold.

With so many differences to point out between 2021 movie and its sequel, my earliest opinions were blobby mixtures of enjoying what I was watching and questioning why this story wasn’t being told using completely a completely different ghoulish monster, an unfamiliar pair of antagonists and some new-fangled communication device. Not until well after the credits rolled did the real question truly sink in: why was I viewing this sequel’s pointedly intentional originality as if it was a problem instead of a solution?

Some of my favorite horror sequels also went in completely different directions from the originals.

Following the film's Fantastic Fest premiere, Scott Derrickson talked about his reticence to return to previously established worlds, as he never wants to deliver anything resembling a copy of what came before it, which myriad other franchises have zero issues with. One of the biggest reasons Black Phone 2 took years to come together is because Derrickson wanted his young co-leads to realistically grow into the next phase of Finney and Gwen's lives for an evolved coming-of-(r)age tale.

The easiest comparison to make, given The Grabber's transition from real-world monster to supernatural threat, is with the Nightmare on Elm Street films, most of which built up unique dream-tethered storylines atop a basic foundation of "Freddy killing him some teenagers." Dream Warriors and Wes Craven's New Nightmare are among my favorite genre films of all time, and both are vastly different from each other, as well as from the flagship slasher.

From Ti West's Pearl-centric X trilogy to Aliens to Army of Darkness to Bride of Chucky, there are thankfully quite a few examples of game-changing horror sequels out there, while a movie like Ouija: Origin of Evil achieving greatness despite having a truly terrible predecessor. With that perspective grasped, appreciating Black Phone 2 specifically for its differences became effortless.

I'm thankful that the way I experienced Black Phone 2 specifically helped me appreciate it more.

Had I watched Black Phone 2 on my tablet without a clue as to what any of it was about, I could probably still appreciate the cinematography in the dream sequences, the characters and The Grabber's look on a surface level, though I might be that much more critical of the storyline and some of the performances. However, this is one of those movies where my ever-increasing gratification and understanding stemmed entirely from how it was enjoyed, similar to a movie watched on a first date or another special occasion.

Not that I think others would need to follow in my footsteps to reach the same levels of enjoyment, given my initial qualms also came from a very specific place. The far-plainer version of this review could have easily read as: "Black Phone 2 is bigger, darker, and better," because that will no doubt be the takeaway that a lot of other viewers will have. But that kind of approach just wouldn't...grab...anyone's attention.

At this point, I'm willing to say that I'd watch Finney and Gwen go on cross-country adventures to bring justice to tortured spirits, always staying a step ahead of that dastardly Grabber. (And if the next movie is presented through the lens of a Scooby-Doo episode, that's all the better, I think.) Time will tell how well Black Phone 2 stacks up against 100 years of previous horror sequels, but I bet you can only count on one hand the number of horror movies with psycho killers on ice skates.

We may live in a world where mobile devices are standard, but over in the 1980s timeline of Scott Derickson’s Black Phone 2, one doesn’t always need wires, cell towers, or any power at all for phone calls to go through. So it goes for Finney and Gwen Blake, who once again find themselves wrapped up in a supernatural fright fest spawned by Ethan Hawke’s kidnapper-turned-spectre The Grabber. But just because it’s happening again doesn’t mean audiences should expect a similar story, because Derrickson utilized a different bag of tricks here.

Scott Derrickson talked to SFX on CinemaBlend about going back to bat for the second sequel of his career thus far — the first being his directorial debut, 2000’s Hellraiser: Inferno — with a pronounced focus on not just repeating the same elements that made the first film so effective. For instance, he and screenwriter C. Robert Cargill chose to transition The Grabber from a corporeal monster into a supernatural nightmare, making the upcoming Blumhouse movie that much more unpredictable, while also allowing for a larger scope. As the director put it:

A lot of what he's referring to stems from the film's frequent switches from traditional film stock to Super 8 footage. Derrickson previously talked to CinemaBlend about using Super 8 footage in his films, with Sinister being the more prominent example before this sequel. As well, the change in setting to a remote summer camp in the snow presented its own challenges.

All in all, Derrickson considers it as big a cinematic achievement as his other accomplishments, and in that way, he points out that his MCU film Doctor Strange is the most comparable, just on a grander scale given that film's more sizable budget. As he put it:

Audiences will need to hit up theaters to see and hear exactly what he's talking about, as I won't be the one to give away anything spoilery. But I think it's safe to say all of the elements he brings up are used in effective ways that do give the sequel more of a dream-like aura not unlike an Elm Street movie. It's not buildings folding in on buildings like Doctor Strange, obviously, which is a good thing for the grounded scares here.

In the end, Scott Derrickson convincingly sounds like he had zero regrets with the finished product, saying:

For all that big-budget sequels tend to lean hard on massive set pieces and cartoonishly heightened situations, the Black Phone 2 creative team chose to veer away from heightening some elements that made the first film memorable. As Derrickson put it:

He purposefully held off until co-stars Mason Thames and Madeline McGraw were a few years older, so that he could tell an older coming-of-age story with Finney and Gwen as more matured teens. To me, the wait was worth it, and there is indeed an added emotional element to catching up with characters years after such a baffling trauma.

Derrickson did technically return to the world of The Black Phone already with his segment in the horror anthology V/H/S/85, which was indeed a different approach, even if it obviously wasn’t as fully fleshed-out as the ideas brought to life in the second feature. (Speaking of, sorta, check out our review for V/H/S/Halloween, which had its world premiere at Fantastic Fest the night before Black Phone 2 debuted.)

Black Phone 2, which already got a stamp of approval from Stephen King, is set to hit theaters on Friday, October 17. Will you answer the call?

Memorable horror villains aren’t exactly a rarity these days, but still aren’t something I’d ever want to take for granted. So even though I wasn’t 100% convinced that Black Phone 2 needed to exist as a 2025 movie release, given the first film adapted a standalone short story from Joe Hill, I was still more than excited to see Ethan Hawke’s depraved killer The Grabber back on the big screen. Hill’s famed father Stephen King was also pumped for the upcoming horror movie and has shared a short-but-glowing review that I can fully agree with.

King is known to share his many pop culture opinions, movie takes and TV show praise with his social media followers, and it wasn’t exactly surprising that he would be chiming in on Black Phone 2, considering its legacy connections. (It also isn’t surprising that the bestselling author was either privy to a private screening or got an early version of the film sent to him.) He took to X to share his thoughts, which are as follows:

Dem's high-praisin' words indeed, considering how widely acclaimed The Black Phone was when it was released in 2022. (We certainly had a glowing review for it.) So for it to even match those previously set highs would have been an accomplishment. It's a whole other kind of victory for it to fully supercede what the first film delivered.

Indeed, the sequel manages to rise above and eclipse its predecessor by being a completely different kind of movie, albeit still one tethered to the haunting central conceit of Finney and Gwen's supernatural abilities, as it were. The first trailer garnered immediate Nightmare on Elm Street comparisons, and those are pretty on the money, with director Scott Derrickson and screnwriter C. Robert Cargill going broader and weirder with the snow-covered storyline.

Derrickson himself shared King's post on Instagram, so one can assume that he was pumped to get that vote of confidence from such a legend of the genre.

I was on hand at Fantastic Fest 2025 for Black Phone 2's world premiere, so I can speak not only to how fun it is, but also to how well it worked with a packed theater of likeminded fans: superbly. Everyone was justifiably amused, shocked, and horrified in equal doses, and I can say with conviction that Ethan Hawke's monstrous Grabber is even more disturbing filmed in Super 8 than he is in a higher definition.

What's more, both Mason Thames and Madeline McGraw have advanced their already aces acting talents, and Black Phone 2 really is their shared movie. Sure, additions like Demián Bichir and returning co-stars like Jeremy Davies add to the value, as does Hawke's masked creepster, but Thames and McGraw hold the fort with ease, and watching them is easier on viewers' psyches this time around without all the violence against children.

But don't just listen to me: take it from the guy who was responsible for bringing Joe HIll to life, Stephen King. (To be sure, Hill did give Derrickson and Cargill his ideas for where The Grabber's story could go after his short story, so there remains a direct connection there.)

Check out the second full-length trailer for Black Phone 2 below!

Black Phone 2 will hit theaters everywhere starting on October 17. So if you missed out on watching it on the big screen the first time around, don't make that same mistake, or we'll be calling you, and calling you, and calling you...

With spooky season upon us (or here now, if you measure it by the availability of pumpkin spice lattes), there’s a whole bunch of upcoming horror movies on the way. But arguably the most anticipated is Black Phone 2, which we’ve been waiting for since we learned it was officially happening two years ago. While the first Black Phone movie was touted for bringing a freshly bloody take on the genre, the sequel is getting some welcome comparisons to A Nightmare on Elm Street – including with new comments from one of its stars.

Black Phone 2 Star Compares Ethan Hawke’s Grabber To Freddy Krueger

Mason Thames is back for Black Phone 2 alongside a number of his co-stars from the first movie, like Ethan Hawke, of course, reprising The Grabber, and Madeleine McGraw, Jeremy Davies and Miguel Mora. When talking about the upcoming sequel with Entertainment Weekly, he said this about what’s to come:

As you might recall from the 2021 movie, Mason Thames’ Finney succeeds in killing the terrifying serial killer known as The Grabber by the end. So how can he return for a sequel? Well, since the whole premise of The Black Phone had to do with the line between the dead being open, Finney and his sister’s run-ins with him are not over. And, much like Freddy Kreuger, it seems like The Grabber can now haunt and cause harm in dreams.

Fans Have Been Comparing Black Phone 2 To A Nightmare On Elm Street, Too

Given that A Nightmare on Elm Street is thought of as one of the best horror movies of all time, it’s certainly a compliment for Mason Thames to compare the movie’s villain to the franchise. I mean, we’re still thinking about all of Freddy Kreuger’s gruesome kills even though the film series has been without a new entry since 2010.

But Thames comments echo what fans have been saying about Black Phone 2 since the latest trailer dropped on YouTube last week. Check out some of the top comments:

• “They turned Black Phone 2 into an 80s supernatural slasher like Nightmare on Elm Street and I'm all for it.” - @XMen-m1t
• “Freddy Krueger: I'm so proud of you, son... The Grabber: TY, dad…” - @nightponyinrface6009
• “I know many of us compared it to Nightmare on Elm Street after the first trailer, but....this REALLY elevates that, especially with the dreams, and the people getting thrown around, but then the people who are awake seeing no one. It really reminds me of the first death in the first NOES. I'm so hyped for this!!” - @h20delorian
• “Hey, if we can't get another Nightmare on Elm Street, I'll take this instead” - @SelfDescribedNerd

The Black Phone is based on a 2004 short story by Joe Hill, who is the son of Stephen King. Scott Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill wrote the script for the movie adaptation, which earned $161.4 million worldwide against the modest budget of around $17 million. The second movie is based on an idea Joe Hill pitched to Derrickson and adapted by the same script team of the original. You can see it in theaters on October 17.

Aubrey Plaza is no stranger to balancing comedy with pathos, but in a recent conversation, she revealed just how personally The Gorge (which is streaming with an Apple TV+ subscription) resonated with her. While speaking on Amy Poehler’s podcast, Plaza used the new horror movie as a way to articulate what grief has felt like for her following the death of her husband, writer-director Jeff Baena. For that film's director, Scott Derrickson, those words weren’t just flattering, they were profoundly moving.

Derrickson responded to Plaza’s words during an interview with EW, admitting he was deeply touched. The Doctor Strange filmmaker explained what it was like to hear that his work resonated so deeply, saying:

The Black Phone director was careful to note that Plaza’s comments, while moving, weren’t necessarily tied exclusively to his latest work. Instead, he framed them as part of a larger truth about storytelling, explaining:

For a bit more context, Plaza, whose husband Jeff Baena tragically died this past January, recently opened up to fellow Parks and Rec alum Amy Poehler on her podcast Good Hang. The Agatha All Along star didn’t just casually mention the film but went into detail about how its imagery mirrored her own grief. Describing The Gorge’s premise, where characters guard a mist-covered expanse filled with monsters, she explained:

It was an unusually vulnerable moment for an actress whose television and best movie roles often stem from her sardonic edge in projects, especially in shows like Parks and Recreation and The White Lotus. But it also underscored something universal: how art, even a monster-driven action film, can provide clarity about life’s most challenging experiences.

On the surface, The Gorge is a great original Apple TV+ movie that tells the story of a tense survival journey starring Miles Teller and Anya Taylor-Joy as operatives confronting monsters across an ominous chasm. And though The Gorge didn't quite resonate with critics, Plaza’s comments clearly highlight the film’s deeper subtext. That endless gorge, filled with unseen threats, doubles as a metaphor for the emotional weight of loss — always there, always threatening to pull someone under.

It’s that layered reading that makes Derrickson’s work so impactful. While viewers may come for the scares or spectacle, they often leave with something more personal: a mirror of their own struggles.

Both Scott Derrickson and Aubrey Plaza are keeping busy with 2025 movie releases. Plaza’s collaboration with one half of the Coen brothers, Ethan Coen’s dark comedy Honey Don’t, is currently playing in theaters, so be sure to check your local listings to catch it. Meanwhile, Derrickson not only has The Gorge streaming now, but he’s also gearing up for the release of the highly anticipated The Black Phone 2, which hits theaters on October 17.

If you have an Apple TV+ subscription and have been on the platform for the last few days, you might have come across The Gorge. There's plenty to enjoy regarding the film, but when I watched it, I couldn't help but wonder how they came up with some of the concepts for the monsters that we see. Honestly, they're a sci-fi/horror fan's biggest nightmare, and as it turns out, screenwriter Zach Dean was encouraged to make them as horrifying as possible.

When speaking to Dean ahead of The Gorge's release on Apple TV+, the screenwriter said that it was the director, Scott Derrickson, who encouraged him to use the full extent of his "imagination." Yes, Virginia, he was told to make these creatures as grotesque as possible, telling CinemaBlend:

The Gorge often echoes some of the best sci-fi films out there, and I think a big part of that is the "direction" it took with it's monsters. In fact, there are plenty of practical usages when it comes to some of the beasts that both Levi (Miles Teller) and Drasa (Anya-Taylor Joy) encounter. I can almost guarantee they'll make you squirm in your seat. And that's exactly what Zach Dean was going for.

Truthfully, though, The Gorge being so well-executed is not that surprising. Scott Derrickson is the man behind many horror films, some of which are among the best horror movies out there. The Exorcism of Emily Rose, Sinister, and The Black Phone are just some of his many accomplishments. He even directed the first Doctor Strange film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, so it's clear he has dipped his toes into both the horrible and the surreal in the past.

I personally feel the fact he and Zach Dean worked together was a great decision. Dean himself has also had experience in the world of sci-fi with The Tomorrow War (which is hopefully getting a Tomorrow War 2 at some point). However, it's terrifying to see what they dreamed up working together with these creatures.

The 2025 movie schedule itself has a lot of new sci-fi releases, but personally, it's going to take a lot of time for me to get The Gorge's monsters out of my head, and I might need to dip my toes into some other movies in the meantime to not think about it. Time to check out some rom-coms.

If you like a little romance and horror with a sci-fi twist alongside your Valentine’s Day dinner, The Gorge may be on your radar. Director Scott Derrickson’s newest project, hitting the 2025 movie calendar on February 14, covers quite a few genres in the story of two snipers guarding either side of what looks like the gates of hell in The Gorge’s trailer. Critics were able to screen the movie ahead of its release to Apple TV+ subscription holders, so let’s see what they’re saying.

Miles Teller stars in his first blockbuster since Top Gun: Maverick, while Anya Taylor-Joy has enjoyed a successful past few years with The Menu, The Super Mario Bros. Movie and Dune: Part Two, to name a few. The Gorge is unlike any of those — it’s a sci-fi horror action flick with enough romantic comedy to justify its Valentine’s Day release, but with so much going on, is it hitting with critics? David Ehrlich of IndieWire says The Gorge doesn’t deliver on a potentially rich premise, instead turning predictable and shallow. The critic gives it a C, writing:

Dan Jolin of Empire also gives it a middling grade of 3 out of 5 stars, saying The Gorge is best appreciated as an unlikely romance, but none of the movie should be taken too seriously. Jolin continues:

Where some of the critics think the romance story was The Gorge’s strength, Tyler Nichols of JoBlo doesn’t buy the chemistry between Miles Teller and Anya Taylor-Joy. Too much focus is put on the romance instead of exploring the gorge’s more intriguing horrors. This movie is more enjoyable if you can turn your brain off, Nichols says, writing:

Therese Lacson of Collider gives it a 4 out of 10 despite several compliments, including calling it an enjoyable ride with dynamic action sequences, a charming love story and monsters with an ick factor. The Gorge may be enough for those simply looking for a popcorn movie with equal parts action and romance, but that isn’t enough to justify how “painfully predictable” the action is. Lacson says:

Agreeing on its ability to entertain, IGN’s A.A. Dowd gives the movie a “Good” 7 out of 10, arguing that The Gorge should have been given an opportunity on the big screen. The critic writes:

Many critics are pointing to the predictability of the plot, and with The Gorge feeling like two separate movies, it’s nearly inevitable that they would prefer one over the other. Even with more average reviews, if this sounds like a movie that’s intriguing enough for you to check out, you can do so starting Friday, February 14, and be sure to check out the other best movies to watch on Apple TV+ while you’re at it.

The horror genre has een exepriencing a renaissance for years now, to the delight of fans like myself. Some of the best horror movies to come out in years are original concepts like Scott Derrickson's The Black Phone. Fans have been waiting for news about the sequel, and the filmmaker recently offered some plot details while revealing why he was inspired to make the follow-up.

The Black Phone 2 is happening, and I'm personally hyped about the upcoming horror movie. While speaking with ScreenRant about the project, Derrickson revealed he wasn't originally that inspired to return to the burgeoning horror franchise. But as time past and he thought about the cast, he changed his mind. As the Doctor Strange director offered:

Honestly, this sounds pretty awesome. The first Black Phone movie was very much set in middle school, with protagonist Finney and his sister Gwen dealing with issues at home before Ethan Hawke's The Grabber even entered the picture. And it sounds like the sequel will once again focus on the adolescent experience, but this time with the siblings in High School.

While The Black Phone is a slasher movie, it also has a supernatural element as well as a moving family drama at its heart. Finney and Gwen both capture the hearts of the audience, and I'm eager to see how their relationship has changed, as well as if things got better with their father.

Of course, there's one major roadblock to the story of the horror sequel. Namely, that The Black Phone's ending saw The Grabber seemingly killed by Finny during his escape. Did he survive after all? We'll just have to wait and see, but it's hard to imagine the movie's sequel not featuring its iconic masked villain.

The Black Phone's supernatural element will seemingly give Derrickson and company some wiggle room regarding how to continue the story. As we saw in the first movie, Gwen has psychic dreams, which she used to help find her brother after his abduction by Ethan Hawke's villain. Throughout the movie Finny uses a broken phone to communicate with The Grabber's previous victims, so it seems like this gift runs in the family. High School is tough enough, and one can only imagine how much more complicated it might be as a psychic. Hopefully we get more information about The Black Phone 2 soon, although don't expect it to pop up during the 2025 movie schedule.

With December in full swing, it’s time to start taking a peek at upcoming 2025 movie schedule, and we’ve just been given a first look at an especially exciting thriller coming to those with an Apple TV+ subscription this Valentine’s Day. The first trailer for Scott Derrickson’s The Gorge is here and, while it's a V-Day release, I'm so pleasantly surprised by how romantic Anya Taylor-Joy and Miles Teller's film about the gates of hell looks. With that, I'm all in for this one!

The trailer (above) was just revealed amid Brazil Comic-Con by Anya Taylor-Joy (our favorite modern horror queen) and Miles Teller. Taylor-Joy sports black hair and an accent while playing Drasa, a highly-trained operative who is stationed at an ominous guard tower that apparently guards the gorge, or gates of Hell. Meanwhile, Teller -- who signed up for the movie back in 2022 -- plays Levi, who's on the other side of the gorge and on guard as well. Fans may also be delighted to see Sigourney Weaver in the trailer, too, as the long-beloved genre veteran plays the official who recruits Levi for his task.

It's established that Levi is stationed there for an entire year without the ability to call or communicate with the outside world. He’s also “strictly forbidden” to communicate with Drasa, on the other side, as he’s tasked with making sure nothing comes out of the gorge, which is described as the “door to hell.” But, as time passes for the lonely operatives, they start to reach out to each other and forge some sort of bond.

One scene from the trailer sees the characters communicating using signs with messages on them, and it actually reminds me of one of Taylor Swift’s best music videos, “You Belong With Me”! However, when Teller’s character tries to zipline to the other side, perhaps to finally rendezvous with Taylor-Joy’s character, he falls directly into the gorge, and she goes after him. Based on this footage, it seems fans are in for a creepy, horror-filled thriller with a lot of romantic tension, and I'm so eager to see how it all plays out.

This forthcoming release was written by The Tomorrow War’s Zach Dean, but I’m especially pumped due to the fact that it’s been helmed by Scott Derrickson. The filmmaker is best known for directing movies like The Black Phone, Doctor Strange and one of the best horror movies of all time, 2012’s Sinister. Derrickson’s passion for horror and unique direction always feel refreshing, so I'm very intrigued by how he'll balance the movie’s romance with his love for scares and suspense.

Both Miles Teller and Anya Taylor-Joy have been booking and busy as of late, and it’s exciting to see them placed together in one movie. Taylor-Joy is coming off a year that saw her headline the critically acclaimed Furiosa. Looking ahead, Teller has the Michael Jackson biopic, in which he'll play lawyer John Branca.

Ahead of that, though, I'm just excited to see what the two actors bring to The Gorge after seeing this first trailer. If you're feeling the same way, grab an Apple TV+ membership so you'll be able to stream it when it debuts on February 14.

Scott Derrickson, the visionary horror movie director and the mind behind the first Doctor Strange movie, stirred the superhero fan community with a candid reveal about how his version of the sequel might have differed from what audiences saw in Scott Raimi's Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. The Exorcism of Emily Rose filmmaker, who departed the Marvel project over creative differences, has occasionally hinted at his distinct vision for the mystical defender's continued adventures. Now, his latest comments come as a more explicit affirmation of a divergent creative path that never came to fruition.

In a recent post to X (formerly Twitter), the Sinister creator shared a rare piece of memorabilia. It was a Marvel-issued blacklight poster from the Sorcerer Supreme’s original big screen outing, noting its unique place among his personal collectibles:

This seemingly innocuous sharing of his film memorabilia set the stage for a deeper revelation regarding the potential sequel the director had planned. Responding to a fan's question about how his sequel would have compared to the relatively well-received Multiverse of Madness, the Deliver Us From Evil filmmaker gave a succinct and revealing answer. Known for his passion for darker themes, his response hinted at a significantly different direction for the sequel, much like insights recently shared by a Strange 2 screenwriter about two different versions of the script. Scott Derrickson responded:

While Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness may not be the highest-ranking Marvel movie or the best Sam Raimi film, it was still a lot of fun. And, as cool as it is to imagine what could have been if the Sinister helmer had been able to see his vision through for a sequel, selfishly, I’m sort of happy the director stepped away from the project. 

If you’ve seen all the Marvel movies in order, you know the franchise has been facing some uphill battles with audiences seemingly growing board with the properties, resulting in several less-than-stellar box office performances. For my money, I’m happy Scott Derrickson stepped away from the MCU to focus on more original fair, like the adaptation of Joe Hill’s short story The Black Phone. The director behind one of the best Blumhouse movies is better served, in my opinion, by making stories he has more control over. And, as we know, playing in the Marvel sandbox means playing by the committee rules. 

Although Scott Derrickson may not have helmed the Master of Black Magic’s sequel, he does have another one in the pipeline. The Black Phone 2 screenwriter recently revealed that horror hounds should expect the follow-up to hit theaters in 2025. I’m not entirely sure how the team plans on bringing the Grabber back following the first BP movie's perfect ending, but either way, I’m pumped! All the while though, I'm sure MCU fans will continue to imagine what Derrickson had in mind for the Sorcerer Supreme. 

Both Doctor Strange films are available for streaming with a Disney+ subscription. Additionally, don't forget to explore our 2024 movie schedule to discover the exciting films coming soon to a theater near you, including upcoming superhero flicks.

In a cinematic landscape where reviving classic horror franchises has become the norm, it's rare for a new series to emerge and truly grab the audience's attention. Yet, that's precisely what's happening with the anticipation building around the forthcoming The Black Phone 2. Details on how the sequel will unfold remain sparse, particularly given the original Black Phone's flawless ending. However, the revelation that the entire original team, including author Joe Hill, is on board for the sequel has sparked considerable excitement. Hill, alongside the first film's screenwriter, C. Robert Cargill, just shared an enticing update about the project. However, the screenwriter’s other collaboration with director Scott Derrickson is what has me particularly thrilled.

When Should Audiences Expect To See The Black Phone Part 2?

Joe Hill, the mastermind behind the original Black Phone story, which was the basis for one of the best Blumhouse movies, recently lifted the receiver to give us the lowdown on the highly anticipated sequel. Hill, who also happens to be the progeny of horror royalty Stephen King, posted a screenshot of an announcement made by C. Robert Cargill to his own Instagram, sharing that the sequel, which is still shrouded in mystery, is set to haunt theaters in 2025. And the image was accompanied with the following caption:

Talk about exciting news! When it was released in 2021, it was easily one of the best horror movies of the year. The first movie is a perfect sleepover/gateway horror film with a satisfying conclusion, so I cannot imagine what a sequel might look like. But with the creative team from the first one in place, I’m pumped to see what they have in store for us!

C.Robert Cargill And Scott Derrickson Are Collaborating On A Remake Of A Noir Classic

What has me particularly pumped is the other project confirmed in this Black Phone 2 update: fans are getting another upcoming book adaptation (or a possible remake) of Davis Grubb's classic novel The Night of the Hunter. According to Deadline, Universal Pictures has tapped Scott Derrickson as the director for the upcoming adaptation of Davis Grubb’s celebrated 1953 novel. The Doctor Strange filmmaker will helm the project, co-writing the screenplay with his frequent partner, C. Robert Cargill, continuing their successful partnership across various projects.

Night of the Hunter has received the silver-screen treatment before. It was originally adapted into a 1955 flick, which is one of the best psychological thriller films you can watch, that stars a menacing Robert Mitchum. The feature is a masterpiece of horror noir that has chilled audiences for decades. Its story of a sinister preacher hunting two children for their deceased father's hidden fortune is the stuff of nightmares. While beautifully shot and acted, the film inevitably reflects the constraints of its '50s production era. Released two years after the novel, the first adaptation had to tone down the story's darker and more violent elements to meet the audience's expectations of the time. 

The excitement around C. Robert Cargill and Scott Derrickson, the creative minds behind The Black Phone and Sinister, taking on this iconic work is palpable. Derrickson's track record in the horror genre and Cargill's nuanced approach to storytelling set the stage for an adaptation that could bring a fresh perspective to horror noir. This project promises to not merely rehash a classic but to delve deeper into the novel's dark themes through a modern lens, potentially redefining it for today's audience.

So Black Phone 2 is definitely on my radar, but it’s the whisperings of NoTH that have truly captured my imagination. While you wait for updates on those productions, revisit the first Black Phone, renting or buying wherever you get your films. And, if you've yet to experience the cinematic masterpiece The Night of the Hunter, you're in luck, as it's available to stream for free on Tubi.

When it comes to the business of moviemaking, sometimes the story behind the film is just as interesting as the final product itself. This feels like the case with Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Prior to the Marvel Studios entry hitting theaters in 2022, there were quite a few production shakeups that happened behind the scenes, including Scott Derrickson making the decision to stop directing the project due to creative differences. Following Derrickson sharing his side of the story, the previous writer of the Doctor Strange sequel has shared her experience on the movie too. 

When the second Doctor Strange movie was being actively developed under the direction of Derrickson, who also made the first movie of the franchise, Jade Halley Bartlett was hired to write the sequel's script. As Bartlett’s new movie, Miller’s Girl, gets ready to hit theaters this weekend, here’s what she had to say about her time on the MCU movie: 

While speaking to ComicBook, Jade Halley Bartlett shared that the original version of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness was a completely different take on the movie. It sounds like when Derrickson exited the project, Marvel went back to square one with writer Michael Waldron and director Sam Raimi. Bartlett remains grateful for the experience she had on the Marvel project, and is still in disbelief that she was part of an MCU movie at the time. This is especially considering how Bartlett just became a first-time writer/director on Miller’s Girl. As the writer continued: 

When you think about it, Bartlett somewhat got the best of both worlds in this whole situation. She gathered some experience working on an ultra high-profile movie with the likes of Scott Derrickson and Kevin Feige without receiving the wrath that often comes from Marvel fans after a new project is released. Of course, whatever vision she and Derrickson will probably never see the light of day, so that’s a bummer. 

In terms of what we did see with the release of Multiverse of Madness, the reception was somewhat mixed when it came to the Marvel sequel. While some found cameos lik Patrick Stewart’s return as Professor X “disappointing”, including the actor himself, and Scarlet Witch’s arc bothersome, in other ways, it was also a really fun entry into the MCU. Plus, it made nearly $1 billion at the worldwide box office. 

While it may not be the highest ranking Marvel movie, it did mighty well for itself, even after there being two versions behind the scenes. The Doctor Strange sequel is now streaming with a Disney+ subscription, and you can see Miller’s Girl in theaters starting January 26. 

Since theaters reopened after being shut down for most of 2020, the box office landscape has been chaotic. There are still major action and superhero blockbusters that makes hundreds of millions of dollars, but there are a number of tentpole releases that have underwhelmed, and comedies and dramas are a roll of the dice for studios. One of the few genres that have showcased some consistency, however, is horror – and to address the reasons why, I recently asked directors Scott Derrickson and David Bruckner about the trend.

Both filmmakers are behind segments of the recently released horror anthology feature V/H/S/85 – which is no available to Shudder subscribers – and when I spoke with them during separate interviews earlier this month, I asked them for their thoughts on the genre’s recent success. In Derrickson’s opinion, the answer at the heart of everything is quality. Audiences go into these movies hoping for frights and compelling characters, and they’ve been walking away happy a lot as of late. I pointed at The Black Phone being among wins like Jordan Peele’s Nope, Parker Finn’s Smile and Gerard Johnstone's M3GAN (not to mention Kevin Greutert’s critically acclaimed Saw X), and Derrickson said,

The Black Phone was a big hit in the summer of 2022, and according to Scott Derrickson, that was primarily driven by young audiences. The film may sport an R-rating, but apparently it was people under 18 that made the Joe Hill adaptation as popular as it is. The director continued:

David Bruckner has also been a success story in the wave that Scott Derrickson identifies, as he directed the excellent Hellraiser sequel that arrived on streaming right on time for Halloween last year (it’s available to watch with Hulu subscription). As far as the audience’s appetite for horror is concerned, Brucker credits the ability of scary movies to provide an outlet for people’s anxieties – and we are presently living in very anxious times. Said the filmmaker,

Regardless of the reasons, Bruckner is thankful for the moment. From anthology movies like V/H/S and Southbound to features like The Signal, The Ritual and the aforementioned Hellraiser, he has made a home in horror cinema over the last decade, and given how hard it is in the industry to make original films, he is impressed by the genre’s fortitude:

The terrific work by both David Brucker and Scott Derrickson for V/H/S/85 help make the film the best installment yet of the long-running found footage franchise, and horror fans have a whole lot to look forward to in the future. Derrickson was at this year’s Fantastic Fest for the premiere of the new anthology movie, and he was particularly blown away be one title he screened:

V/H/S/85 is streaming on Shudder now and while director Demián Rugna’s When Evil Lurks is presently in limited release, it will be available on the horror-centric subscription service starting next Friday, October 27. Needless to say, spooky season is a great time to sign up for an account.

In this week’s edition of The King Beat, I regret that I can’t get write extensively about the exciting 4K UHD release of The Dead Zone that was just announced by Shout! Factory. There also isn’t time to celebrate either 45th anniversary of The Stand (which was on Tuesday) or the 20th anniversary of the collection Nightmares & Dreamscapes (which was this past Saturday). Simply put, there are too many other exciting developments happening in the world of Stephen King.

Instead of those topics, this week’s column features terrific news regarding Mike Flanagan’s adaptation of the novella “The Life Of Chuck;” an interview with Pet Sematary: Bloodlines writer/director Lindsey Anderson Beer; and an update from filmmaker Scott Derrickson regarding his long-in-development adaptation of “The Breathing Method.” Read on, and please join me in wishing a speedy recovery to Stephen King as he recuperates from hip replacement surgery.

Mike Flanagan’s The Life Of Chuck Is Reportedly Going To Start Production This Month In Alabama

At present, there is arguably no greater cinematic ally to Constant Readers than Mike Flanagan. After all, he’s the guy who has not only made two of the best Stephen King movies of all time within the last six years, but has made it his goal to create a proper and faithful adaptation of the Dark Tower saga. It’s impossible to not be thrilled about every move Flanagan makes in the King world – which is why it’s thrilling to learn that his next adventure is reportedly starting production later this month.

Gulf Coast Media has published an article saying that Mike Flanagan’s The Life Of Chuck is planning a mid-October start for principal photography down in Alabama – specifically in Baldwin and Mobile counties. Filming is expected to roll for four weeks. This will be the second time that Flanagan has made a Stephen King movie down in Alabama, as Gerald’s Game was shot in Mobile (which explains why the setting of the story is moved from Maine to the southern state).

The Life Of Chuck adaptation was first announced back in May, and it’s been reported that the film will star Tom Hiddleston and Mark Hamill (the latter just worked with Mike Flanagan on the new Netflix series The Fall Of The House Of Usher). The adaptation is based on the novella of the same name, which was first published in the 2020 omnibus If It Bleeds. A surreal bit of fiction, the story plays out in three distinct acts and each one goes backwards in time examining the life of the titular character.

If you’re curious about how filming is happening despite the on-going SAG-AFTRA strike, The Life Of Chuck received approval from the union last month. We don’t presently know the status of the movie when it comes to domestic and international distribution deals, but you can be sure that you’ll find release date news here on CinemaBlend as soon as it is confirmed.

Scott Derrickson Is No Longer Developing The Breathing Method And Names The Book That “Has Not Gotten The Treatment That It Deserves”

When Scott Derrickson was promoting The Black Phone in 2022, he spoke in interviews about how he was trying to keep hope alive for The Breathing Method – a Stephen King adaptation that he first became attached to make in 2012. There was expressed optimism, but now, a little over a year later, it seems that the project isn’t moving forward with his involvement.

Derrickson’s latest work is a segment in the new horror anthology film V/H/S/85 (which features a canon link to The Black Phone), and when I interviewed the writer/director about the project this week, I inquired about a Breathing Method update. Sadly, it now seems that the potential adaptation is out of his hands. Said the filmmaker,

This is a bummer given Scott Derrickson’s talent and clout as a genre director – particularly after he did such a terrific job adapting the work of Joe Hill (Stephen King’s son). I followed up by asking if there was potentially another King story that he’d like to bring to the big screen, and while Derrickson wouldn’t commit to any specific title, he named his favorite book from the author and provided a judgment on its cinematic legacy to date:

It was only at the end of 2020 that the most recent adaptation of The Stand hit Paramount+ (then known as CBS All Access), but perhaps after a few more years, Derrickson could start lugging copies of the heavy tome to pitch meetings.

Read My Interview With Director Lindsey Beer Anderson About Pet Sematary: Bloodlines, Which Streams This Friday

A few weeks ago, The King Beat led with a story from my interview with Pet Sematary: Bloodlines director Lindsay Anderson Beer – the filmmaker revealing that she specifically cast both Henry Thomas and Samantha Mathis in the movie because of their extensive respective Stephen King experience. With the prequel film now set to be released (available with a Paramount+ subscription starting this Friday, October 6), you can read more from our wonderful conversation, with highlights including her personal relationship with her movie’s source material, how she sees the film’s relationship with the previous Pet Sematary adaptations, and more.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

I'll start by asking what is your personal history both with Stephen King and with the novel Pet Sematary?

Yeah, I read Pet Sematary. It was the first Stephen King novel that I read. I was about nine years old, and I saw it on a library shelf, and I think I was like falsely lured in by the cover with pets . But I read it in a night. I stayed up all night reading it and I just loved it, even though I was a kid and it was about an adult, but I loved the kind of absurdist, inner monologue of Louis and just the whole family drama of it. I was absolutely terrified but completely obsessed with it. And then I pretty much stole a copy of the movie from a family friend's library to sneak it, to watch it. And I made my sister watch it with me too. She hated it 'cause it was so scary, and I loved it so much, and we watched it over and over again.

In the making of this film, what was your relationship both with the 1989 film and the 2019 film?

For me, I felt like I wanted to do my own thing. So I just kept rereading the book and I saw that as my North Star, and I wanted to make a prequel to the book and kind of take... In the book, there's so much mythology that's hinted at, but it isn't really explained. And I felt like as a fan, there were questions that I wanted answered and I just was looking for threads that I could pull on to kind of weave together and tell a bigger picture of the origin of Ludlow.

Rewatching the 2019 Pet Sematary, I noticed that they don't have the tale of Timmy Baterman scene, but there is the short film that John Lithgow shot on set. What was your awareness of that short film and how much were you incorporating it into what you were doing with your movie?

You know what's funny: I did not even know that short existed until like way, way, way, way, way down the line in post when we were editing [laughs]. And the producer brought it up and I was like, 'Why did nobody flag this shit before? [Laughs]' But I actually love that short. I think they did such a good job with it.

One thing that strikes me is that this isn't a remake. You immediately get to the Micmac burial ground in the very first scene. How much were you able to lean on just the pop culture awareness of what Pet Sematary is in the making of this movie?

Yeah. I wanted to take the awareness of what we know about that and the tropes and kind of the mystical indigenous burial ground that had been used in those earlier movies and kind of subvert that and say that that's not what this was actually, and that's part of a conspiracy and a cover-up and superstition and things that get gets passed down. And for me, I feel like at the point where something becomes a trope, it's not interesting anymore. And I feel like we've kind of evolved beyond that as a society anyway. So that was one of the things that interested me about taking on this project, was being able to take what we know and then say, 'Well, forget what you know because we're gonna unearth this deeper mystery and secret.

I feel like it has aged somewhat in the sense of Poltergeist and even The Shining leaning on Native American mysticism. But actually one thing I really like about this film is the fact that you have indigenous characters. Was that something that specifically came out of that?

Yeah, exactly. To be able to kind of subvert that trope and tell a more complex and I think modern story to me, it's a very important to have point of view characters who were Native American. I also consulted with several Native American groups. I also let Isabella and Forrest, the actors who played them, really contribute a lot to their characters and have a very big say in them in a way that was unique compared to the other actors. But I think it's just really important for people to be involved in the telling of their own stories.

Recommendation Of The Week: Pet Sematary, Chapters 38-39

My King Beat reading recommendations are generally going to be limited to short stories and novellas, but I’m mixing things up this week in honor of the fact that Pet Sematary: Bloodlines is not a typical adaptation. Much like The Voyage Of The Demeter from this past summer, the new movie is not based on an independent work, but instead a section of a larger piece – specifically Chapters 38 and 39 of Pet Sematary.

Shortly after the death of young Gage Creed, his father, Louis, is a broken, emotional mess, and he goes to visit with his neighbor Jud Crandall. Jud knows that his friend is considering taking his son’s body up to the notorious, cursed burial ground, and he tries to convince Louis to rethink the plan by telling him a terrible story from when he was a young adult and witnessed the horrible resurrection of a young man Timmy Baterman. The DNA of this tale is the basis for Pet Sematary: Bloodlines, though the adaptation makes significant changes.

I’ll be back next Thursday here on CinemaBlend with another edition of The King Beat, so stay tuned for that, and in the meantime, you can check out my Adapting Stephen King column, which chronicles the full history of the author’s books on screen.

Originally the plan for Doctor Strange 2 was to have Scott Derrickson, director of the first Doctor Strange movie, resume his helming duties, with this being officially announced at the 2019 San Diego Comic-Con. However, by January 2020, Derrickson exited what would come to be known as Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, with Sam Raimi taking over directorial duties a few months later. Nearly a year and a half after Multiverse of Madness’ release, Derrickson reflected on the circumstances that led to him and writer C. Robert Cargill leaving the sequel, saying he wanted to avoid a “monstrosity” that would come with clashing creative visions.

While appearing on The Playlist’s The Discourse podcast to promote his segment of the found footage horror movie V/H/S/85, Derrickson reaffirmed that it was creative differences that led to him and Cargill bowing out of Doctor Strange 2 rather than some major behind-the-scenes drama. It boiled down to Derrickson looking to make a significantly different movie than what Marvel Studios wanted, and had the two sides kept trying to work together, it likely would’ve have been a recipe for disaster. In his words:

Scott Derrickson added that his version of Doctor Strange 2 was “extreme departure from the first film” and would have been “a genuine horror film of sorts,” which is how the sequel was initially promoted to the public. Although Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness certainly contained horror elements, the specific kind of story it told was different than what Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill wanted to tell, so they decided to walk away rather than contribute to the already-too-large number of these cinematic monstrosities the former referenced.

Derrickson once called the decision to walk away from a Marvel movie as “satisfying,” and it worked out for him and Cargill since they went on the make The Black Phone, which was critically well received and made over $161 million worldwide off a budget somewhere between $16-$18 million. The filmmaker also made it clear in this interview that even though things didn’t work out on Doctor Strange 2, there’s no “bad blood” between him and Marvel. Not only did he attend the Multiverse of Madness premiere and is “friends” with Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige and other people at the company, he’s also on wonderful terms with Sam Raimi.

You can see Scott Derrickson’s work on V/H/S/85 when it premieres October 6 on Shudder (which can be added on to your Amazon Prime Video subscription). Disney+ subscribers can easily Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, but it has yet to be confirmed if Doctor Strange 3 is moving forward, though the sequel’s ending and its first end-credits scene certainly laid the groundwork for another movie.

Arriving in theaters last summer, Scott Derrickson’s The Black Phone was a bona fide hit. A positive response from critics pre-release was followed by great success at the box office, and the film was a big win for the horror genre. Time will tell if we eventually get to see an official big screen sequel to the movie – but for now, fans will be excited to know that an in-world follow-up is on the way this week as part of the new streaming feature V/H/S/85.

Scott Derrickson has helmed one of the five segments in the new horror anthology film (that count including the wraparound story), and he has confirmed that the work shares a continuity with his most recent work. I spoke with the writer/director earlier today, and while discussing his influences for the short, he explained that there is not only a common canon, but that there is a familial link between characters in both stories. Said Derrickson,

Co-written by the director and C. Robert Cargill, the segment is titled “Dreamkill” and Gunther is played by Dashiell Derrickson (Scott Derrickson’s son). Set in 1985 a.k.a. seven years after the events in The Black Phone, the story centers on a hunt for a psychotic serial killer whose atrocities are somehow being recorded on VHS tapes and sent to the police weeks prior to them being committed. Gunther is the son of the precinct’s forensic videographer (James Ransone), and he’s brought into questioning when it’s discovered that he is the one who has been mailing the precognitive evidence.

I won’t say anything more about “Dreamkill” in order to protect surprises, but I will note that there is a specific scene that creates a link between it and The Black Phone.

Following up, I asked if Scott Derrickson reached out to author Joe Hill, who wrote the short story on which The Black Phone is based, but it turns out that he didn’t make a point of asking anybody for permission:

Dating back to 2012, the V/H/S franchise has seen contributions from some of the best filmmakers in modern horror (talent including David Bruckner, Adam Wingard, Ti West, Justin Benson & Aaron Moorhead, and the team collectively known as Radio Silence), and Scott Derrickson is a new addition to the club. The movie offered him the opportunity to work with both of his sons (in addition to Dashiell playing Gunther, Atticus Derrickson composed the score for key scenes), and the filmmaker saw the project as a chance to experiment with the found footage medium. Said Derrickson,

V/H/S/85 is one of the best installments of the anthology franchise thus far, with “Dreamkill” being a big part of the reason why. If you’re curious about the Black Phone follow-up, you’ll be able to watch it this Friday, October 6, exclusively with a Shudder subscription. The movie also includes segments from David Bruckner, Natasha Kermani, Mike P. Nelson, and Gigi Saul Guerrero.

Director Scott Derrickson has found great success following his departure from the helm of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness with his latest film The Black Phone starring Ethan Hawke. In our interview, he discussed making the decision to step away from a Marvel movie, his favorite book adaptations, the Stephen King story he’d like to adapt himself, and more. 

Also this week, Sean pays tribute to Better Call Saul’s impressive run following its final episodes. Marvel’s She-Hulk series has finally hit Disney+ this week, and we give our thoughts through the first four episodes. And finally, Idris Elba is back in theaters with Beast! Stick around to hear our spoiler-free reviews. 

Timestamps (approx. only)

00:08:57 - Scott Derrickson Interview
00:26:14 - Better Call Saul Finale Reaction
00:30:55 - She-Hulk Review
00:44:42 - This Week In Movies
00:45:25 - Beast Review
00:58:31 - Our Favorite Alison Brie Performance
01:06:55 - Outro

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“The Breathing Method” is a novella that exists in an odd place in the legacy of author Stephen King and the history of Stephen King adaptations. The story is one of four that is included in the beloved 1982 collection Different Seasons, and while the other three titles in the omnibus have inspired adaptations – namely Frank Darabont’s The Shawshank Redemption, Rob Reiner’s Stand By Me, and Bryan Singer’s Apt Pupil – it is a work of fiction that presently only exists on the page.

Back in 2012, director Scott Derrickson and screenwriter Scott Teems began efforts to change that history, developing a movie based on the novella with Blumhouse Productions. And while it’s been about a decade since the project was first announced, the filmmakers are not giving up on the idea that it could exist someday in some form.

With his new movie, the critically acclaimed The Black Phone (based on the short story by Stephen King’s son, Joe Hill) set to arrive on Blu-ray next week, Scott Derrickson was recently a guest on CinemaBlend’s ReelBlend podcast, and The Breathing Method was a project that came up in conversation. The filmmaker was asked about the idea of making a King adaptation at some point in the future, and Derrickson explained that he still has hope for his big screen version of the Different Seasons novella:

“The Breathing Method” is a strange story in that it has two different narrative levels. The narrator of the story is a lawyer who is invited to join a tremendously exclusive New York men’s club. The group meets in a gorgeous space with books and games, but the gentlemen’s true passion is storytelling.

The title of the novella comes from a tale that the narrator hears told by an elderly physician named Dr. Emlyn McCarron, who discusses his experience with a pregnant woman named Sandra Stansfield from when he was practicing medicine back in the 1930s. To help her with her labor, Dr. McCarron has her practice a technique called The Breathing Method – and while I won’t get too far into the details, I will say that the story has a macabre and creepy conclusion.

Earlier this year, I had the chance to interview screenwriter Scott Teems, and he went into more detail about the long road that the Breathing Method movie has taken through development hell. The screenwriter credits the project for helping him forge relationships with Scott Derrickson and producer Jason Blum, but explains that the development hit a brick wall because there was a point when the movie was sold to The Weinstein Company. Said Teems,

In 2017, Harvey Weinstein was accused of sexual abuse by dozens of women, and in 2020 he was found guilty and sentenced to 23 years in prison. The part of the “fallout” that Scott Teems is referring to is the fact that The Weinstein Company was forced to declare Chapter 11 bankruptcy as a result of the scandal.

There admittedly isn’t a high number of projects that have managed to survive a decade in development hell with the original filmmakers still attached, but Scott Teems is determined to have The Breathing Method be one of them. The adaptation has evolved over the years, and been changed for different mediums, but the writer has faith that it will one day get made in some form. Said Teems,

The sibling stories to “The Breathing Method” in Different Seasons inspired two of the best Stephen King movies ever in The Shawshank Redemption and Stand By Me, and if the adaptation has even half the quality of either of those movies, it will hopefully get financed tomorrow.

While waiting for The Breathing Method to finally come together, horror fans can check out Scott Derrickson’s The Black Phone, which is now available for digital rental and purchase, and the Blu-ray arrives on Tuesday, August 16. To keep track of all the Stephen King projects that are in the works in Hollywood, our Upcoming Stephen King Movies and TV guide is a great resource, and our Adapting Stephen King column has been exploring the long history of King adaptations weekly since May 2021.

Sam Raimi was able to return to Marvel earlier this summer when the three-time Spider-Man director helmed the MCU sequel Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, a gig that once belonged to Scott Derrickson. He was in line to follow up on his 2016 origin story, Doctor Strange, when creative differences led to Derrickson walking off of the project. Part of what inspired him to walk is that he knew he had a solid screenplay for an adaptation of Joe Hill’s short story, The Black Phone, waiting to be made. And coincidentally, that horror movie ended up in theaters at the exact same time as Multiverse of Madness, which you would think might be strange (no pun intended) for the Sinister filmmaker.  

But when Scott Derrickson hopped onto the ReelBlend podcast to discuss The Black Phone ahead of its digital and home video release, he addressed the timing of the two movies competing against each other at the box office, telling us:

Scott Derrickson has been an absolute class act when it comes to Sam Raimi taking over Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, complimenting the movie’s trailer and basically hyping it up to any fan that asked him about it. Not that the Doctor Strange sequel needed that much help. Coming on the heels of Spider-Man: No Way Home, of which Stephen Strange was a significant contributor, the buzz already was high for Multiverse of Madness. Add in the fact that it was the first official blockbuster of the summer season, as well as Sam Raimi’s return to superhero storytelling, it should surprise no one that it came close to $1 billion in worldwide tickets sold. 

At the same time, Scott Derrickson could afford to take a victory lap because the movie he shifted over to, The Black Phone, was no slouch at the box office. Even before it has opened in Korea (a significant market for horror), Derrickson’s adaptation has brought in nearly $150 million globally, and is expected to draw very well on home video. 

In our conversation, Derrickson hints that the story of The Black Phone lends itself to sequelization ideas despite the movie’s ending, but stopped short of giving away any details. For now, the movie is still in theaters, and will be made available on home video on August 16, 2022. 

You never forget a good sleepover movie. It used to be that you could head over to your local video store, browse the aisles for a while and walk out with two or three movies your parents rented for you and your friends. With that sort of supervision, anything was up for grabs, so long as whomever was watching over you approved. This week, director Scott Derrickson and his co-writer C. Robert Cargill are adding their own contribution to this storied practice, as The Black Phone finally hits premium VOD. 

While the video store is not exactly thriving at the moment, streaming and VOD are just as helpful to such pursuits. Though the cinematic adaptation of Joe Hill’s short story of the same name is rated R, from my subjective viewpoint it’s not a particularly hard one. The Black Phone does tell a story that involves some gore, as well as the disturbing subject matters of murder, physical abuse and child abduction, but it uses those components to tell the story properly. 

This isn’t a Saw-level torture porn shockfest, as Scott Derrickson has crafted a narrative that wades through a no-holds barred story focused on adolescents. Once again, Derrickson and co-writer C. Robert Cargill seem to have set out to make a perfect horror film without aiming for that R-rating. It just so happens that, much like they did with their cult horror hit Sinister, they happened to run into that territory according to MPAA guidelines. 

Which is a shame, because outside of that arbitrary rating, The Black Phone seems absolutely fine to show to a teenage audience. However, since Sinister is now streaming for Peacock Premium subscribers, you can always use that movie as a theoretical test drive to see if The Black Phone is right for your kids.

Watching Finney (Mason Thames) communicate with the spirits of The Grabber's (Ethan Hawke) previous victims could also serve as a metaphor for all of the hard times that await young people in any age. The Black Phone may be a supernatural tale, but Joe Hill takes after his father in the source material, as he uses the fantastical to parallel the perils of youth. It’s a prime example of what horror fans know as “gateway horror,” a.k.a. those movies that help easy younger fans into the spooky stuff. 

With villains like Hannibal Lecter and The Joker inspiring Scott Derrickson’s take on The Grabber, The Black Phone is even more of a prime gateway movie that’ll lead to some of the harder stuff, like The Silence of the Lambs. True, this is a bit harder than your typical gateway horror film like Ghostbusters or The Monster Squad. However, in the modern day, a movie like The Black Phone is kind of along those lines of content; especially when franchise like Resident Evil are easily accessible on the nearest video game console or Netflix streaming device. 

One of the greatest anchors that helps The Black Phone play towards a hypothetically younger audience is its inclusion of age-appropriate leads, and rather impressive ones at that. Mason Thames’ Finney runs the gamut of strength, vulnerability and tender friendship, making for a compelling lead to follow. Also, Madeline McGraw’s performance as his on-screen sister, Gwen, is both hysterical and engrossing. Younger audiences will get a kick out of The Black Phone showing actors roughly their age using R-rated language, and to the proper comedic effect.

None of the young cast alienates the audience with behavior that’s too precocious or profanity that’s excessive. If anything, the strongest factor about The Black Phone’s total package is that it’s a grounded, supernatural horror film. Yes, the main conceit is Finney trying to best The Grabber through the advice of the dead, but it’s never overblown or sensationalized. Time and time again, we’ve seen concepts like this told in stories with younger children, and it’s that fine borderline between innocence and skepticism, or wonder and horror, that we allow ourselves to believe such a story can exist. 

I’m afraid to even use this term, but you can think of The Black Phone as an Amblin-adjacent horror movie that you can show your kids. Ethan Hawke actually terrified his young Black Phone co-stars, and the realism of such terror could even scare younger audience members who are jaded by the media they’re already allowed to partake in. 

I’m about to make a very subjective statement, but as far as I’m concerned, The Black Phone is the type of movie I’d have rented with my parents' permission as a teen. For a film that roots itself in horrific crimes and the voices of the dead, it’s actually a pretty cozy watch. The familiarity of this sort of horror tale is comforting because these are the sorts of ghastly stories we all grew up hearing at one point or another.

Don't just take my word for it though. The trailer to The Black Phone sells the horror portion of this experience pretty thoroughly, as you'll see below: 

All The Black Phone does is give the world another fine example of storytelling that identifies with young people. Showing them that they can conquer their fears with confidence and the right advice, it’s a terrifying tale that delivers a powerful message. Seeing as this is the movie that both Scott Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill left Doctor Strange 2 to make, it’s even more fitting that these once-MCU storytellers are still thinking with blockbuster brains that know how to aim for the heart.

The Black Phone is still in theaters, but is also currently available to rent on PVOD. So if you’re inclined to potentially let the tweens or teens in your life watch this movie, you can always watch it first in that 48 hour rental period. Trust me when I say that if you let your kids and their friends watch this one, they might feel like they’re getting away with partaking in a secret, almost forbidden thrill. Which, of course, is one of the reasons we watch horror movies at a young age; as a rite of passage at the movies.

The horror genre has been on a roll lately, with some of the most recent original concepts coming to theaters courtesy of Blumhouse. That’s the case with The Black Phone which stars Ethan Hawke and arrived in theaters last weekend. And director Scott Derrickson recently explained to CinemaBlend the “creepy” reason he included Super 8 film into both The Black Phone and his previous horror flick Sinister. 

Scott Derrickson might be a household name thanks to his work directing Doctor Strange, but he’s a horror buff at heart. His movies The Black Phone and Sinister have some similarities: both star Ethan Hawke and feature creepy sequences shot in Super 8 film. As you can see in the video above, I had the privilege of speaking with Derrickson before the new horror movie’s release, where he revealed why Super 8 works so well within the genre. As he put it,

From seeing his work in both Sinister and The Black Phone, you can’t deny that Scott Derrickson has a point. Super 8 feels truly unsettling, especially once it's blown up on a big screen for a horror flick. And perhaps nowhere is that more obvious than the ways he used Super 8 in his previous scary movie.

2012’s Sinister features Ethan Hawke as a true-crime writer who uncovers horrifying violence and a demon named Bughuul. Through his journey he discovers Super 8 film of various murders done by children who were possessed by the demon. Each one is more unsettling than the next, largely because of the creepy way the footage looks.

In The Black Phone, we also see Super 8 peppered throughout the movie’s 103-minute runtime. The young protagonists’s sister Gwen (Madeleine McGraw) has psychic visions throughout the movie, seeing Ethan Hawke’s villain The Grabber abduct his young victims. That’s when that creepy footage is used, to powerful results. Later in our same conversation, Scott Derrickson explained this choice, saying:

For those who don’t remember, you can check out the thoroughly creepy Super 8 scenes from Sinister below. But buckle up, they’re scary and probably NSFW. Still, you can’t deny how much the film itself helps to set the tone.

Horror fans were thrilled that Scott Derrickson was returning to the horror genre with The Black Phone. And his latest collaboration with Ethan Hawke proved to be a critical darling, sitting on a 84% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The movie also performed fairly well at the box office on its first weekend.

The Black Phone is in theaters now. Be sure to check out the 2022 movie release dates to plan your next movie experience. 

Movie theaters are starting to look a little more normal than they have been in the pandemic era, with larger crowds showing up for exciting upcoming movies. While Top Gun: Maverick and Jurassic World Dominion had pretty easy weekends in their reigns, it’s about to get very competitive at your local multiplex. Case in point: last night saw some impressive showings for a Thursday night, with Blumhouse’s latest The Black Phone nabbing an impressive milestone for this year in horror. 

The Black Phone Is Now The Second Highest Thursday Opening For 2022 Horror

Early receipts are being released through various outlets like Deadline, and the picture is pretty bright for director Scott Derrickson and co-writer C. Robert Cargill. Adapted from the short story by author Joe Hill, their Universal release is the second highest Thursday night opening in the genre, sitting just slightly behind Scream’s $3.5 million debut earlier this year. The Black Phone's critical reviews are pretty spectacular too, as at the time of this writing the movie has a pretty high consensus of positive reactions.

The team behind Sinister and Doctor Strange are probably celebrating this fact right about now, as The Black Phone is on a promising track for a healthy weekend. It’s a good sign, as comparing the film to other offerings on display at a theater near you, every little bit is about to help. Especially when Maverick is still flying around, with some very promising rumors about another kill shot in his sights.

Elvis And Top Gun: Maverick Are Still In The Game For A Very Competitive Weekend

Also debuting in a big Thursday night showing was Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis biopic, which left the building last night with $3.5 million. Austin Butler and Tom Hanks’ polarizing movie has seen a slew of critical reactions running the gamut from unfavorable to absolutely in love. It’s pretty much the expected course for a Luhrmann movie to run, and that sort of energy might protect The King’s story from falling to Top Gun: Maverick’s supposed rise.

Box Office Mojo saw the Tom Cruise legacy-quel reach the top of the daily box office again this week, and estimates seem to thing that Maverick will retake the overall top slot again. It doesn’t hurt that Lightyear’s surprising opening weekend seems to have Disney/Pixar’s spinoff moving out of the way. 

Plus, after hyping up the fans through a social media campaign, IMAX is bringing Top Gun 2 back to the premium format, cutting into Chris Evans’ large format toy story. That sort of result could carry Tom Cruise into that rarified air of '80s blockbusters that could achieve such feats, and hold onto the crown for multiple weeks at a time. 

The first two weekends in July are going to prove even more interesting, as Minions: The Rise of Gru and Thor: Love and Thunder are the only major debuts headed our way, and in that order. Sequel-friendly punctuation and franchise fatigue are all on the board for discussion, and the battlefield is only going to get more intense. 

Though if you’re pulling for The Black Phone in this time of cinematic fisticuffs, here’s something to consider: the estimated budget was $16 million, and its opening weekend is estimated to land between $15 - $20 million. Profitability, as always, seems to be in reach with Blumhouse; though we won’t know for sure, as that budget only covers production costs. 

The Black Phone is currently showing in theaters, if you’re not afraid to indulge in a fun but dark time. If that’s not enough to satisfy your cravings for all things spooky, then the rundown of upcoming horror movies will help you seek out your next cinematic prey.

“The Black Phone” stars Ethan Hawke (The Grabber), Mason Thames (Finney Shaw), Madeleine McGraw (Gwen Shaw) and director Scott Derrickson sit down with CinemaBlend’s Corey Chichizola to talk about their new supernatural horror film. They discuss The Grabber’s mysterious mask, shooting on Super 8 film, why Ethan Hawke enjoys working with young actors, and much more.

Video Chapters

• 00:00 - Intro
• 00:17 - Ethan Hawke on The Grabber’s personality and the power of his mask
• 01:26 - Mason Thames explains his favorite thing about The Grabber’s Mask
• 01:52 - Scott Derrickson shares what The Grabber has in common with iconic villains like The Joker and Hannibal Lecter
• 02:48 - Mason Thames explains how they shot the phone call scenes in the basement
• 03:08 - Scott Derrickson explains his choice to use Super 8 film for the dream sequences
• 04:22 - Madeline McGraw gives insight into how Scott Derrickson helped them feel at ease throughout the production
• 04:52 - Scott Derrickson shares why he loves working with Ethan Hawke
• 05:58 - Ethan Hawke explains why he enjoys working with young actors
• 07:00 - Mason Thames shares his experience working with Ethan Hawke

Horror fans have been anticipating The Black Phone’s arrival to the big screen. The adaptation of the 1994 short story of the same name by Joe Hill reunites Sinister director Scott Derrickson with Ethan Hawke as the leading man. Hawke plays the masked villain The Grabber, who takes young teen Finney (Mason Thame) as his latest victim. Critics have had a chance to screen the Blumhouse horror ahead of its June 24 release, so let’s check out what they have to say.

The titular black phone comes into play as The Grabber locks Finney in a cell that has a disconnected black rotary phone. The story takes a supernatural turn when Finney realizes he can hear the voices of the antagonist's previous victims over the phone and, meanwhile, his sister, Gwen (Madeleine McGraw), uses her psychic visions to try to find her brother. Let’s take a look at what the critics think of the movie, starting with CinemaBlend’s review of The Black Phone. Corey Chichizola rates the horror 4.5 stars out of 5, saying that Scott Derrickson is a horror master, and this film proves it:

Mike Manalo of Nerds of Color would seemingly agree with the above assessment, grading the movie an A-. This review praises everything from the acting — both in the leading and supporting roles — to the score in what is so much more than your typical horror flick. It should be lauded as more of a coming-of-age blockbuster:

For at least one critic, however, the fantastical side of the plot did not add to the horror, but detracted from it. Owen Gleiberman of Variety says the movie feels more like a dark cousin to the comic book world, and he doesn’t find it particularly scary:

Matthew Mahler of MovieWeb agrees that horror fans looking for a straight scare fest might be a little disappointed, but this thriller is a dark and well-executed look at childhood and violence. The critic says director Scott Derrickson makes the story feel personal, which is effective because of how good Mason Thames and Madeleine McGraw are in their roles:

Sam Stone of CBR says Scott Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill’s expansion of acclaimed author Joe Hill’s short story is a success. They took a 30-page story and gave the characters a backstory and added to their emotional depth, which was executed well on the back end by The Black Phone’s talented cast.

It sounds like this Joe Hill adaptation should please moviegoers, as long as audiences know they’re in for something deeper than just tried-and-true jump scares. The Black Phone is set to hit theaters on Friday, June 24 and will be available for streaming with a Peacock Premium subscription on Monday, August 8. In the meantime, start planning your next trip to the theater by checking out CinemaBlend's schedule 2022 movie releases to see what’s coming soon.

Over the past few years, the horror genre has experienced a thrilling renaissance. Fans have been delighted to see unique new ideas and franchises hit theaters, many of which come from Blumhouse Productions. The legendary horror house has brought us modern classics like Get Out, Halloween, The Invisible Man and Sinister. The latter project was released back in 2012, directed by Doctor Strange filmmaker Scott Derrickson and starred Ethan Hawke. That pair has once again collaborated on the new horror flick The Black Phone, and they’re a match made in horror heaven.

Based on the 2004 short story of the same name by Joe Hill, The Black Phone is set in 1978 Colorado, which is a time setting that helps keep things especially creepy; it’s always more thrilling when a horror flick can avoid phones. The movie focuses on the Shaw family: siblings Finney and Gwen (played by Mason Thames and Madeleine McGraw, respectively), and alcoholic father Mr. Shaw (Jeremy Davies). As the family is in the midst of interpersonal strife, Finney is kidnapped by the masked villain known as The Grabber (Ethan Hawke). 

Our young protagonist Finney is put in a basement cell by The Grabber, where he attempts to find a way to survive the terrifying figure. While this could play out as a standard survival story, Scott Derrickson and co-writer C. Robert Cargill include supernatural elements to their horror story. Because Finney’s cell includes a disconnected rotary phone, with which he can communicate with the voices of The Grabber’s previous victims. What’s more, his sister Gwen has psychic visions and is trying to find and save her brother by herself.

Scott Derrickson Is A Horror Master, And The Black Phone’s Scares Proves It

Filmmaker Scott Derrickson both directed and wrote The Black Phone's screenplay, so his particular director’s vision is at the heart of the new project. While he became a household name thanks to his work on Marvel’s Doctor Strange, his roots have always been in horror. That sensibility helped bring the Marvel movie’s trippy visuals to life, but Derrickson’s return to horror is sure to delight fans of the genre.

Indeed, it seems like Derrickson applied the best parts of The Exorcism of Emily Rose and Sinister in order to bring this supernatural period piece to life. Like the latter movie, Derrickson uses Super 8 film while capturing some of the scary moments. While in Sinister it was the gruesome tapes of murder, in The Black Phone, we see each of the Grabber’s abductions through this lens. It’s an unsettling motif that helps to build tension throughout the first act of the movie.

While the horror genre has been criticized for leaning on jump scares, Scott Derrickson doesn’t go this route with his new movie. Indeed, the first one doesn’t happen until about halfway through the movie. Instead Derrickson uses simple, but effective ways to keep the audience terrifying throughout its 102-minute runtime. The calls to the dead and visits from The Grabber certainly help to buoy excitement, as are protagonist Finney’s attempts at escaping and his sister’s psychic vision of The Grabber’s victims. One particular scene shows Mason Thames’ character attempting to unlock a combination lock, which, while simple in its nature, is one of the most gripping moments of The Black Phone. The horror action pivots between supernatural and realistic, which results in the movie’s runtime truly flying by.

Ethan Hawke’s Grabber Is A Truly Captivating Horror Villain

So many great horror movies are known for their villains, including movies by Scott Derrickson. While Sinister introduced the demonic Bughuul, the antagonist of The Black Phone is nothing more than a man; one extremely unsettling man known as The Grabber, played by the great Ethan Hawke. The 51 year-old actor went from horror victim to victimizer, and the transformation is truly captivating.

Part of what makes Ethan Hawke’s Grabber so intriguing is the character’s signature mask, which was designed by Tom Savin. During Finney’s time in his cell, we see various forms of The Grabber’s mask, as it comes apart in pieces. In some scenes Hawke’s eyes are visible, in others just his mouth. This helps to make the Boyhood actor’s already strong performance into a puzzle that audiences get to slowly piece together. 

While playing the bad guy can be a challenge, Ethan Hawke's masked antagonist is a chilling new presence that has the potential to be a truly iconic horror villain. It’s easy to see how much care he took with his performance, and it’s thrilling to see how his mask informs his physical performance as The Grabber. And since we learn he’s a serial killer, there could presumably be plenty of stories for Scott Derrickson and company to mine from if they’re so inspired.

The Black Phone’s Story And Ending Are Both Super Satisfying. 

Aside from needing a captivating villain, the most common mistake to hit horror movies is a bad ending. Plenty of these flicks have simply fizzled out in the third act or introduced a new concept that took away the movie’s tone. Luckily, The Black Phone is super successful in its ending.

As previously mentioned, the supernatural element of The Black Phone comes in the form of the titular phone in Finney’s cell, as well as the psychic vision of his sister Gwen. These two stories really come together in the third act in a way that ties together plenty of moments throughout the movie’s runtime. The ending shows how methodically Scott Derrickson approached this movie’s story and why he’s such a force in the horror genre.

It’s so easy for a horror movie to not totally stick the landing, enough that fans like myself are sometimes willing to accept it after hours of scares. But The Black Phone’s finale shows why the genre is continuing to have such a moment at the box office. Overall, The Black Phone is everything you want in a horror movie: terrifying, thrilling, and delivering an ending you won't forget.

The horror genre has been in a renaissance for years now, and 2022 has already given us a number of strong entries. The next of these is Scott Derrickson’s return to horror The Black Phone, which reunites him with Sinister star Ethan Hawke. This time around Hawke is playing the antagonist known as The Grabber, with Derrickson recently name-dropping Hannibal Lector and The Joker when explaining how to create a good horror villain. 

As you can see in the video above, I had the privilege of speaking with Scott Derrickson, Ethan Hawke, and the young stars of the upcoming horror movie The Black Phone. As a fan of his work on both Sinister’s villainous Bughuul and The Black Phone’s Grabber, I asked the filmmaker the key to creating a horror villain that can carry an entire movie. Derrickson shared his perspective, saying:

He’s definitely got a point. While there have been countless horror movies over the years, some franchises get bogged down with revealing an appropriate backstory and motivation for the killer. But in the end, some of the most terrifying movie villains are ones without motivation. In addition to Heath Ledger’s Joker and Anthony Hopkins’ Hannibal Lector, the killers from The Strangers also come to mind as a prime example.

In some ways the villains of Sinister and The Black Phone can’t be more different. The former is a demonic presence, while Ethan Hawke’s masked Black Phone antagonist is a regular human. Still, Doctor Strange director Scott Derrickson was careful to methodically approach each villain, and their lack of a backstory.

During our same conversation, Scott Derrickson further explained why the lack of a backstory helped to buoy the performances given by Heath Ledger and Anthony Hopkins as Joker and Hannibal Lector respectively. As he put it,

Without a moral compass or concrete backstory to cling to, these antagonists become agents of chaos. And there’s few things more terrifying than someone you can’t predict. With The Black Phone, that makes young protagonist Finney’s terrifying interactions with Ethan Hawke’s Grabber all the more tense.

Scott Derrickson rounded out our conversation about horror villains by offering one more tip to the horror fans and filmmakers out there: stay in the present, rather than harping on the past. As the Exorcism of Emily Rose filmmaker explained,

Touche. The best villain performances aren’t about what happened before the action of the movie, but during. And careful using these masked characters to terrorize the heroes and audience is how to truly build the tension of any movie. And said tension gets extra power when the villain’s intentions are a mystery.

The Black Phone hits theaters on June 24th. In the meantime, check out the 2022 movie release dates to plan your next movie experience.

It can’t be easy to step away from a Marvel project. A tremendous amount of work goes into the making of these movies, and knowing how much they typically make once they hit theaters, the filmmakers involved know they're putting something together that the whole world will tune into. However, Doctor Strange director Scott Derrickson decided to hand off helming the sequel back in 2020 after he and the studio did not agree on the vision for the sequel, Multiverse of Madness. As the movie’s marketing rolls out, fans are starting to wonder how Derrickson feels about Sam Raimi’s upcoming movie. 

As it turns out, he’s digging it like the rest of us. Scott Derrickson took to Twitter to share his reaction to the latest Doctor Strange 2 trailer:

Multiverse of Madness may be the one that got away, but Scott Derrickson has a solid perspective on his decision two years after exiting the project. Derrickson shared that he thinks Sam Raimi was the “right director” for the sequel, and is grateful he got to make his horror movie The Black Phone in its stead. 

Scott Derrickson made the first Doctor Strange movie in 2016 and was all set to go for round two with a script and everything. It was described as the “first scary MCU movie” when it was announced at San Diego Comic Con, and who better to helm that than the director behind Sinister and Deliver Us From Evil. However, as the movie continued to develop, Derrickson and his collaborator C. Robert Cargill cited the exit as “creative differences.” According to Cargill, Derrickson “wanted to do one movie” and “Marvel wanted to do another.” 

Things all worked out in the favor of both parties considering Scott Derrickson got to venture back to his horror roots and make The Black Phone, which is coming this summer. The movie stars Ethan Hawke as a horrifying serial killer in an adaptation of a Joe Hill short story, and its trailer looks like it could be one of 2022’s best horror movies. 

Scott Derrickson has worked with many of the actors in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and is a colleague of Sam Raimi’s, who is also well known for his horror movies. So why wouldn’t he cheer him on? It sounds like the passing of the Doctor Strange torch came about really amicably, Plus, Derrickson is still reportedly an executive producer on the Doctor Strange sequel. 

Multiverse of Madness also allows Sam Raimi to come back to the superhero genre for the first time since the Spider-Man trilogy starring Tobey Maguire. And while it may not be a straight-up horror movie, according to Elizabeth Olsen, who is reprising her role as Scarlet Witch in the film, it’s a “very scary” movie. We’ll see for ourselves once the next upcoming Marvel film, Doctor Strange 2, hits theaters on May 6. 

Minor spoilers ahead for Spider-Man: No Way Home.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe has grown into a behemoth force in the entertainment industry over the past decade and change. And the studio isn’t slowing down, with the latest release Spider-Man: No Way Home breaking box office records. Next up will be Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. And while original director Scott Derrickson won’t be back behind the camera, he has a sweet take on how Strange is being used in the overall MCU.

Scott Derrickson brought Benedict Cumberbatch’s magical hero to life with the original Doctor Strange, featuring an insane visual language that was begging to be seen on the biggest screen possible. But Sam Raimi will be handling the sequel, while the (former) Sorcerer Supreme played a key role in Spider-Man: No Way Home. This included a battle between the two heroes, where his trippy visuals were once again utilized. That seems to have tickled Derrickson, who posted a response online:

What a class act. While he’s no longer involved with Marvel Studios, it seems that Scott Derrickson is pleased to see his Doctor Strange work permeating future projects in Phase Four. And there’s no telling how the trippy visuals will factor into the highly anticipated sequel that’s coming down the line.

Scott Derrickson shared his thoughts about Doctor Strange and Spider-Man: No Way Home over on his personal Twitter account. It’s unclear if he saw the new blockbuster or was simply privy to the trailers, as well as the first sneak peek into The Multiverse of Madness. Regardless, he seems to have a great attitude about passing the torch to Sam Raimi and other Marvel filmmakers.

For those unfamiliar, Scott Derrickson was originally supposed to return to the director’s chair for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. But as development for the project carried on, he eventually clashed with the studio. The filmmaker would depart citing creative differences, making way for the iconic Sam Raimi to make his own MCU debut.

Sam Raimi ended up running a tight set for Doctor Strange 2, despite an extended filming process and reshoots. Pretty much nothing was leaked, which allowed for the teaser that accompanied Spider-Man: No Way Home to quickly go viral. The story could seemingly go anywhere, and fans can’t wait to see Benedict Cumberbatch’s title character team up with WandaVision’s Scarlet Witch.

With Doctor Strange’s sequel serving as the next movie release of the MCU, fans should be treated to more thrilling footage as the project draws nearer. We’ll just have to see if merchandise manages to leak any major plot twists or transformations.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness will hit theaters exclusively on May 6th, 2022. In the meantime, check out the 2022 movie release dates to plan your next movie experience. 

A decade ago, the horror team made up of writer/director Scott Derrickson and co-writer C. Robert Cargill was forged, thanks to their work on the horror favorite Sinister. Since then, the pair have been pretty inseparable, opting to work on projects together, or not at all. That attitude yields another spectacular-looking result today, as the pair have re-teamed with Blumhouse Productions, and actor Ethan Hawke, for the feature film adaptation of Joe Hill’s short story The Black Phone. And from what we’ve seen so far, Hawke’s serial killer character makes this tale even more horrifying.

Set in a Colorado town in the 1970s, The Black Phone centers its story around “The Grabber” (Hawke,) a child-abducting killer whose actions plague the lives of the townsfolk. His latest would-be victim is Finney Shaw (newcomer Mason Thames,) the young boy who you see fall for The Grabber’s initially silly antics. Imprisoned in a dark basement, with only a black phone that’s disconnected, Finney seems to be destined to be the next casualty of The Grabber’s hideous deeds. And then, the phone starts ringing, with some very interesting callers on the line.

The titular black phone, as it turns out, is a thing of magic, as Finney is given a connection to The Grabber’s past victims. Each of them has a piece of advice crucial to his survival and, with time running out, all that stands between Finney Shaw and certain death is a bridge between the living and the dead. Which could also explain how his sister, Gwen, (Madeleine McGraw) is having strange dreams that hold clues of their own. 

It cannot be stated enough that Ethan Hawke’s performance in The Black Phone looks absolutely terrifying. Working with masks, and a low-key menace that really amps up the terror, Hawke’s return to the Blumhouse family looks like it’s doing the trick. Knowing he’s at work with his Sinister collaborators Scott Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill is also pretty heartwarming, even though the group is looking to use the film to dial up some chilling and horrific tension.

As the man who was intrigued by Bughuul in Sinister and fought masked intruders in The Purge, having Ethan Hawke become a masked menace is the movie's coup de grace. With the film already having its debut at this year’s Fantastic Fest, the buzz has started to build for  Joe Hill’s latest adaptation. Which is such a shame, considering horror fans probably want to get their hands on this movie as soon as possible but will have to wait until the new year to do so.

The Black Phone rings its way into theaters on February 4th, 2022. So there’s plenty of time to check out what creepy offerings are headed to theaters throughout the rest of 2021’s release schedule. Though if you want to get a jump on the year ahead, the 2022 release schedule is also waiting to show you horrific delights.

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The Marvel Cinematic Universe has become a well-oiled machine, with every installment in Phase Three resulting in box office and critical success. But behind the scenes shake-ups still happen, like when Doctor Strange director Scott Derrickson departed the sequel, making room for Sam Raimi to take the reins. And Benedict Cumberbatch recently revealed how he felt when he learned Derrickson wouldn’t be back for The Multiverse of Madness.

Scott Derrickson brought something wholly original to the MCU with Doctor Strange, featuring the introduction of magic and some seriously trippy visual sequences. But he won’t be back for the highly anticipated sequel, with horror legend Sam Raimi behind Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. This was obviously quite the change, and Benedict Cumberbatch explained his POV on the shake-up, saying:

Well, there you have it. It looks like Benedict Cumberbatch understands how the entertainment industry works, and the various shake-ups that can come along the way. So while he was sad to hear he wouldn’t be collaborating with Scott Derrickson on Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, he was ultimately able to move forward and work under the direction of another filmmaker.

Benedict Cumberbatch’s comments about Scott Derrickson’s departure from Doctor Strange 2 come from a recent interview the actor did with THR. He did a deep dive into his tenure in the MCU, including his cryptically titled sequel. And that includes what it was like to see the director of said project change.

Marvel fans can re-watch Doctor Strange’s time in the MCU so far on Disney+. You can use this link to sign up for the streaming service.

Scott Derrickson both co-wrote and directed the original Doctor Strange movie, so his talents were key to the character joining the MCU. It’s for this reason that his departure from the sequel was such a surprise, with the studio citing creative differences. Luckily Sam Raimi has a legacy of his own, especially within the superhero genre.

Of course, Scott Derrickson isn’t the only Marvel director who has departed a Marvel blockbuster over the years. Ant-Man was originally meant to be helmed by Edgar Wright, before he also departed over creative differences. The Thor movies have had a variety of directors, while Captain Marvel 2 has been handed over to Nia DaCosta.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is currently expected to arrive in theaters on March 25th, 2022. In the meantime, check out the 2021 movie release dates to plan your next movie experience.

It's always sad when somebody great that so many people admire passes away, but if there's anything that lessens the blow, it's hearing people talk about how much the dear departed meant to so many. That makes the passing of the great Richard Donner, the director of Superman, The Goonies, and the Lethal Weapon franchise, among so many others, a little easier to accept. It seems that every voice in Hollywood is speaking right now about how much they admired him, whether or not they ever worked with him.

Richard Donner died on Monday, July 5 at the age of 91. After directing primarily in television throughout the 1960s, Donner directed The Omen in 1976 and from there moved on to direct Christopher Reeve in Superman, a movie that would have lasting implications on Hollywood in ways that certainly nobody could have conceived of at the time. Among those paying tribute to Donner was the man who took up the mantle of Superman behind the camera, Zack Snyder.

While Richard Donner would make his name directing movies on the big screen, Donner got started in television and he would occasionally return there, directing episodes of Tales From the Crypt as late as 1992. He directed a lot of westerns, like The Rifleman and Have Gun, Will Travel, but he also directed several episodes of Rod Serling's original Twilight Zone, including many of its best known episodes. In 1962 he would direct Nightmare at 20,000 Feet, starring a then largely unknown William Shatner.

William Shatner wouldn't be the only major name that Richard Donner would work with before they were a household name. Star Wars star Mark Hamill joined the chorus of those remembering Richard Donner, as he also worked with the director, on a made-for-TV morality tale called Sarah T. - Portrait of a Teenage Alcoholic. Donner would go on to make The Omen afterwards, while Hamill would make Star Wars a couple years later.

While Superman and its sequel would be the superhero movies Richard Donner will forever be known for, they certainly weren't the only ones he would actually be involved with. Donner and his wife Lauren Shuler Donner would produce the original X-Men movie in 2000 as well as X-Men Origins: Wolverine in 2009. Hugh Jackman also posted his feelings, sending love to Donner's widow and remembering the director's love for rescuing dogs.

That first X-Men movie would also be a major movie for a man who would become an iconic producer in his own right. Kevin Feige's career with Marvel movies would begin with X-Men where he worked with the Donners. However, his connection to them predates even that, as Feige worked as an assistant to Lauren Shuler Donner for a time in the late 1990s.

If there's a movie even bigger than Superman in Richard Donner's career it has to be The Goonies. The film is something of a rite of passage and a film that it seems nearly every young person sees at one point growing up. The script would be one of the first films made from the work of a young Chris Columbus, who credits working with Donner on that film for teaching him how to work with writers after Columbus himself would become a director.

The cast of The Goonies have also reacted to the loss of their director. Sean Astin remembered what it was like working with the man at the age of 12, while Josh Brolin recalled what he called Donner's "perpetual awe."

Certainly, for a man who was part of so many iconic movies, Richard Donner was an inspiration for a host of future directors. One of those is Wonder Woman's Patty Jenkins, who knew Donner personally, but was just in awe of him professionally, considering he put together an impressive body of work in a remarkably short period of time.

For many the legacy of Richard Donner will be a man who could fly. For others it will be a childhood adventure, but it all started with an iconic horror movie, and for Scott Derrickson, it all started with a kid's terrifying smile.

Whether you love horror movies, superhero movies, action movies or family films, Richard Donner left his mark on all of them. The man may be gone, but his work will live on after him, likely inspiring future generations to follow in his footsteps.

A little over a decade ago, then-film critic C. Robert Cargill and filmmaker Scott Derrickson randomly met up in Las Vegas. Both were in town due to a random chance of fate, and they decided to hang out, as they were already on pretty friendly terms. It was that serendipitous meetup that saw Cargill pitch his future writing partner on an idea that would eventually become Sinister; and if it wasn’t for a thought that Ben Affleck had at the premiere of Armageddon, Blumhouse Productions may have never made it.

Fate plays a huge part in this story, which C. Robert Cargill himself told me as we discussed his latest project. As Cargill’s latest novel, Day Zero, is currently available for purchase, there was an opportunity to discuss nannybots made to look like tigers and why Doctor Strange 2 didn’t quite pan out with its original creative team. But if you’re going to talk to either C. Robert Cargill or Scott Derrickson, the subject of their smash hit Sinister is bound to come up. And the short version of how that movie came to be, according to Cargill himself, goes something like this:

Sinister was a part of the experiment that helped make Blumhouse Productions a premiere brand in genre storytelling. That experiment was eventually the blueprint for producer Jason Blum’s recipe for success, which saw talent like Scott Derrickson, James Wan and Jordan Peele bringing in promising premises to be made on microbudgets. So where does a young Ben Affleck come into this story?

Well, as it turns out, it all came down to the premiere party for Michael Bay’s Armageddon. A lavish event that was befitting of pure Bayhem, it sparked a thought that Ben Affleck would share with others. As it spread, C. Robert Cargill was one of the people that caught wind of this notion, which led to the following story that he told me during our interview:

Mr. Cargill wasn’t the only person who got ahold of that story, and soon enough, the notion of microbudget storytelling was flying around. Snatching up indie/festival hopefuls was something that Ben Affleck himself would toy around with, back in the days where he and Matt Damon worked on the HBO series Project Greenlight. However, there was a crucial difference added into the formula in the early days of Sinister’s genesis, both by the critics who loved the idea and eventually producers Roy Lee and Jason Blum:

At this point in Scott Derrickson’s career, there was definitely a bit of turmoil and tumult playing out in the public eye. After making a name for himself with The Exorcism of Emily Rose, Derrickson went on to direct Fox’s 2008 remake of The Day The Earth Stood Still; an experience that was instrumental to his departure from the version of Doctor Strange 2 that Marvel Studios wanted to make. It would also be a pivotal moment in his Sinister journey, as when C. Robert Cargill pitched his idea for the Ethan Hawke-led horror thriller, Scott Derrickson knew of the perfect place to sell it:

Looking back on Sinister almost 10 years after its 2012 release, it’s a very simple concept that’s delivered with quite the punch. The story of Ethan Hawke’s Ellison Oswalt and his investigation into a mysterious murder case veers into supernatural territory, as the house that he’s just moved his family into was the site for these gruesome killings. Reviewing evidence, which includes watching a series of macabre home videos, Oswalt’s actions unwittingly put him on a collision course with the entity known as Bughuul.

Now read back that synopsis for Sinister again and see if it sounds familiar. It’s not the investigation into a murder case that got Jason Blum’s attention, and it’s certainly not the supernatural entity. The real hook to the film, as pitched by C. Robert Cargill, was something so novel that it flipped a concept Blum was more than passingly familiar with into a fresh horror hell:

Listening to C. Robert Cargill discuss the details of his Sinister pitch excited me about the project all over again, and this is despite having seen the film already. Much like he sold Jason Blum on a new angle to the found footage genre, the way that Cargill told the story of his own film had hooked me into Sinister all over again. At this point in the tale, one last thing had to happen: Sinister had to be purchased and written.

Rounding off the story of how historic this film was in his own career, C. Robert Cargill had one last piece of the puzzle to lock in. If it wasn’t for the friendly rapport that he and Scott Derrickson had together, Sinister would have never been pitched. Should that pitch have never taken place, we might have lost out on the writing team that eventually delivered this film, as well as Doctor Strange and the upcoming Joe Hill adaptation The Black Phone. And it’s all thanks to the decision making process detailed below:

Sinister would be made on a budget of roughly $3 million, with the prime release date of October 12, 2012 set for its debut. A critical and commercial hit, C. Robert Cargill and Scott Derrickson’s cinematic child would go on to gross $87.7 million, and put both of their names on the map. From that point forward, their collective legacy would only grow to the point where if you mention one of their names, the other instantaneously comes to mind. It’s a hell of a story to think that Ben Affleck remarking about an excessive Hollywood premiere party would lead to indie horror history.

It's a good thing this long and winding chain of events happened too, as audiences wouldn't have wanted to miss a thing that was described above. Because of Sinister’s success, you can look forward to C. Robert Cargill, Scott Derrickson, James Ransone and Ethan Hawke all reuniting on The Black Phone, which is set for release on January 28, 2022. Also, you can track down Cargill’s latest novel, Day Zero, as it’s currently available wherever you purchase your reading materials, alongside its standalone companion/sequel Sea of Rust.

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When Doctor Strange co-writer/director Scott Derrickson left the project that would eventually become Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, the reasoning he officially gave was “creative differences.” It’s the oldest statement in the book, and it’s gained a reputation as shorthand for rather upsetting disagreements taking place. Co-writer C. Robert Cargill left alongside him at that same time, and not only can he confirm that the circumstances were as plain as they were stated, another project presented itself as an irresistible substitute.

I was given the honor of speaking with Mr. Cargill himself, in promotion of his new book Day Zero, which has been released in time to find its hands of any eager summer reader. But as a fan of Doctor Strange’s approach to the MCU origin story, I wanted to dig a little deeper in to what could have been. That in turn led C. Robert Cargill to spin a story of the stuff he really wanted to pursue in the potential sequel, and ultimately led him to describe the exit of himself and Scott Derrickson from the project, as follows:

While the departure of Scott Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill from Doctor Strange 2 isn’t a common occurrence in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it’s also not that much of an outlier. In the past history of the MCU, we’ve seen Jon Favreau leave the Iron Man franchise before the third installment was made, as well as Patty Jenkins departing from Thor: The Dark World’s director’s chair because of disagreements with its script. Not to mention, there’s still the most memorable debacle that saw Edgar Wright jumping ship from Ant Man, after enduring a situation that could charitably be called “creative differences.”

Thankfully, the scenario that saw Doctor Strange 2 shift over into the hands of Spider-Man director Sam Raimi falls on the more subdued scale of MCU what if stories. As C. Robert Cargill and Scott Derrickson made their most lasting claim to fame on their indie hit Sinister, it felt only reasonable that the pull towards adapting author Joe Hill’s novella The Black Phone would be irresistible to them. Which in and of itself was making up for a missed opportunity, as the team was supposed to adapt Hill's Locke and Key in an earlier incarnation. This perfect storm of familiarity and pride only made the choice to leave Doctor Strange 2 slightly easier, as Cargill further elaborates below:

What could have happened in the Scott Derrickson/C. Robert Cargill version of Doctor Strange 2 is largely a mystery; especially since there was never a full draft of their version to begin with. By his own account, Cargill only wrote a few pages that outlined where to go, and the only person that saw them was Derrickson himself. Of course, there are details about where Mr. Cargill wanted to go with the project, but those are best saved for another time.

After almost a decade of development The Black Phone is going to finally find its audience, and it’s all thanks to C. Robert Cargill and Scott Derrickson forging a lasting partnership, solidified with the passion to tell stories that pull at their hearts. We may have lost one potential version of Doctor Strange 2 because of it, but between their capable successor, and their love for this next film, it can hardly be called the wrong choice.

The results of this universe’s swap will be seen in 2022, as The Black Phone rings in on January 28th, and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness debuts on March 25, both in that very same year. However, if you’re ready to read the stand-alone prequel to C. Robert Cargill’s Sea of Rust, you're in luck. You can grab Day Zero, which is now available at all fine booksellers, just in time for you to order ahead for the coming weekend.

Before Scott Derrickson exited Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, the filmmaker boasted that he would be making the “first scary MCU movie.” That may no longer be true considering Spider-Man director Sam Raimi has taken up the helm of the Marvel sequel, but Derrickson is returning to his horror roots in a big way with The Black Phone. The horror movie based on a Joe Hill short story just took a major step forward by casting Ethan Hawke.

The Black Phone was announced back in October, with Scott Derrickson and frequent collaborator Robert Cargill writing the movie together, as well as Blumhouse producing the project. Now the movie is falling into place with Ethan Hawke playing a lead role, Plus, the production is also officially set to begin in February in North Carolina. Fans of Derrickson’s most spine-chilling dives into horror will remember that Hawke also starred in 2012’s Sinister, another Blumhouse feature.

This upcoming cinematic story is pulled from Joe Hill’s collection of short stories 20th Century Ghosts. Black Phone is about a kidnapped kid who finds himself trapped in a soundproof basement by remains of victims. Hawke will play the mysterious kidnapper. At night, the boy becomes haunted by a disconnected antique telephone in the room that rings “with the calls from the dead.” Are you turning all the lights on yet?

Joe Hill is the son of the great Stephen King, and has seen a number of his stories become movie and TV adaptations. between Horns with Daniel Radcliffe and Netflix series Locke & Key. Robert Cargill has said he and Derrickson have been plotting to make The Black Phone into a feature film for about a decade before Blumhouse gave the green light to the project. It certainly sounds like it could be one of the most exciting upcoming horror projects to look out for in the near future.

The Black Phone has also cast its two child actors, with Mason Thomas of Apple TV+’s For All Mankind playing the boy at the center of the horror movie, and Madeleine McGraw playing his sister. A release date has not yet been announced for the Blumhouse project.

Ethan Hawke recently signed up to play the main villain in Marvel’s upcoming Disney+ series Moon Knight, reportedly with Oscar Isaac and Ramy’s May Calamawy. The actor will apparently work on Black Phone before jumping to the set of Moon Knight to join the MCU on the TV front. Scott Derrickson is also making a thriller with Captain America actor Chris Evans called Bermuda.

It’s exciting to see Scott Derrickson continue to make more horror movies despite heading into the superhero genre with Doctor Strange. He may not get to continue to put his directorial mark on the Marvel franchise due to “creative differences” with the studio, but he’s passed off the torch to Sam Raimi, who has had experience in both horror and comic book movies over the years.

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The Marvel Cinematic Universe is in strange place, as Black Widow's delay has made the wait between phases even longer. But there are have been a variety of exciting updates about franchise's future both on the small and silver screens. One said announcement revealed that iconic filmmaker Sam Raimi will be helming Doctor Strange's sequel In The Multiverse of Madness. And now original director Scott Derrickson has seemingly explained why he stepped away from the MCU.

Scott Derrickson did a stellar job adapting the story of Doctor Strange for the big screen. He used trippy visuals to open the MCU and carve out a special part of the shared universe. But he ultimately departed from the gig directing a sequel, making room for Sam Raimi's entrance. Derrickson posted on social media about how he approaches filmmaking, and may have revealed the reason for leaving Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Check it out below.

Well, that seems pretty cut and dry. It looks like creative differences with Marvel Studios was the reason behind leaving the Doctor Strange franchise in the rear view. He's since given his support to Sam Raimi, and certainly seems to be at peace with his decision.

Scott Derrickson shared this not-so-subtle comment about Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness over on his personal Twitter page. But when speaking about "hard creative choices" he made this year, he referenced another movie: 2008's The Day the Earth Stood Still. That sci-fi movie starred Keanu Reeves and helmed by Derrickson, who clearly has some thoughts about his time behind the camera.

The filmmaker's tweet insinuates that 20th Century Fox and company greatly altered his original vision for The Day the Earth Stood Still. And while it would go on to be a box office success, that experience has changed the way he approaches film projects. So when asked to compromise for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, he instead decided to depart the Marvel blockbuster.

Doctor Strange's tenure in the MCU is currently streaming on Disney+. You can use this link to sign up for the streaming service.

Given what limited information we know about Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, it certainly does sound like a much bigger project than Scott Derrickson's original. The film's title shows that its playing with some high concepts, and it'll also include Scarlet Witch and introduce America Chavez. And that might not have been the story that Derrickson wanted to tell.

With characters like Iron Man and Captain America reaching their MCU end with Avengers: Endgame, it should be interesting to see which characters end up with bigger roles in the greater franchise. Doctor Strange certainly seems like he's going to be one of those heroes, as WandaVision will lead directly into Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. What's more, Benedict Cumberbatch will reprise his role in the third Spider-Man movie opposite Tom Holland.

Sam Raimi seems like a solid choice to take on the mantle of directing The Multiverse of Madness. His history with horror will hopefully lead to some genre-bending, as the sequel's title does seem to indicate that Strange is going to go a little crazy. Raimi is also known for helming the OG Spider-Man trilogy, so he knows his way around Marvel heroes.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is currently expected to hit theaters on March 25th, 2022. In the meantime, check out our 2021 release list to plan your next movie experience.

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The Marvel Cinematic Universe has become a well-oiled machine over the years, with every single installment in Phase Three being a critical and box office success. This includes both Spider-Man movies, which debuted Tom Holland's version of Peter Parker. The next slate of movies is sure to expand the universe in a major way, especially with Strange serving as Spider-Man's mentor in the upcoming threequel. And now OG Doctor Strange director Scott Derrickson has shut down one rumor about that project.

Scott Derrickson introduced Doctor Strange to the MCU back in 2016, debuting unprecedented visuals for the shared universe. But he won't be helming the sequel Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, with that honor going to Sam Raimi. That movie's title teased that high concepts are coming in Phase Four, and some fans are hoping Strange's role in Spider-Man 3 will also bring forth a live-action Spider-Verse. But Derrickson recently took to social media to clarify comments he made that have seen been circulating around news sources. Check out his message below.

Well, that certainly makes things crystal clear. It looks like Scott Derrickson didn't reveal the studio's plans to make all past incarnations of Spider-Man into official MCU canon. Instead, he was simply joking about the possibility of the past Peter Parkers making their way to Spider-Man 3 thanks to Doctor Strange's magic. Still, this shouldn't slow down any fan theories on the subject.

Scott Derrickson clarified comments of his which recently went viral over on his personal Twitter. He's known for sometimes using social media to directly communicate with Marvel fans, as he accomplished something unprecedented for the original Doctor Strange movie. And this time he had to clear up a rumor about Spider-Man 3's possible inclusion of past web slingers.

Marvel fans can re-watch Doctor Strange over on Disney+. You can use this link to sign up for the streaming service.

Tom Holland's Peter Parker made his MCU debut in Phase Three with Captain America: Civil War, before eventually appearing in a whopping four more installments throughout the last slate of movies. But with Doctor Strange colliding with Spidey in his upcoming threequel, the storytelling for that upcoming blockbuster is seemingly limitless.

With Strange presumably opening up the multiverse in The Multiverse of Madness, fans are eager to see how drastically the MCU will change in Phases Four and Five. One of the most popular fan theories is that Spider-Man 3 might include past version of Peter Parker, played by Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield. It's a wild rumor, one that Scott Derrickson had to clarify didn't come from him.

We'll just have to wait and see what's coming next for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, especially as the wait for Phase Four has been so delayed. Prior to the pandemic, we should have seen the release of both Black Widow and Eternals. Unfortunately those projects have both been pushed back, and Scarlett Johansson's long awaited solo movie will arrive this coming May.

The MCU will kick off Phase Four when Black Widow hits theaters on May 7th, 2021. In the meantime, check out our 2021 release list to plan your trips to the movies next year.

Although we’re incredibly excited to see Sam Raimi enter the MCU for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Scott Derrickson’s surprise exit from the project as its director at the top of the year was still a bummer. Word is Derrickson decided not to pick up where he left off with the 2016 film due to creative differences in terms of his horror vision. And low and behold, the filmmaker is now returning to the genre for a new film with Blumhouse Studios and Universal Pictures.

Scott Derrickson is the mind behind Blumhouse’s terrifying Sinister franchise, along with 2014’s Deliver Us From Evil and 2005’s The Exorcism of Emily Rose. The director has signed on to co-write and direct Black Phone, a film adaptation of Joe Hill’s same-named novella, per Deadline. He will re-team with his Sinister collaborators Robert Cargill and producer Jason Blum.

Black Phone centers on four characters, including a ghost from 1945, an eight-foot-tall locust and a boy trapped in a basement. The story was part of Joe Hill’s 20th Century Ghosts collection of short stories. The author is no stranger to seeing his work get adapted. His novel Horns was made into a movie starring Daniel Radcliffe in 2013, and his Locke & Key comic book series was turned into a popular Netflix show earlier this year.

Joe Hill also collaborated with Stephen King on In the Tall Grass, which was also made into a Netflix film. The author will executive produce the Black Phone movie. Following the announcement, Robert Cargill took to Twitter to tease the new project:

According to Scott Derrickson’s own social media update, Black Phone will definitely be rated R. This may have been a roadblock that kept the filmmaker from fulfilling his Marvel visions, which likes to stick with within PG-13 parameters. Black Phone will allow Derrickson to unleash some true terror and for more audiences to be exposed to Joe Hill’s work.

Black Phone will star young actor Mason Thames, who appeared in Apple TV+’s For All Mankind, as well as the voice of Bonnie in Toy Story 4, Madeleine McGraw. Fans of Sinister and Blumhouse’s horror films will especially be excited for this news. Derrickson is also making an action thriller called Bermuda starring Captain America actor Chris Evans.

Blumhouse has a stacked line up coming down the pipeline and Scott Derrickson’s Black Phone is an exciting addition. The studio just released The Craft: Legacy straight to VOD, which CinemaBlend’s own Corey Chichizola gushed about in his review and body-swap slasher comedy Freaky is coming this November. The studio recently showed off footage of Halloween Kills and announced who is directing Insidious 5.

As far as Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness goes, development is finally moving right along, with the sequel reportedly set to begin filming right about now. Check out what scary movies are creeping up next with CinemaBlend’s upcoming horror movie list.

Pixar is the source of beautiful animation and wonderful stories, the sort that films you with happiness. They make you cry, but in a good way. Except, maybe, they're all actually secret horror movies and everything about Pixar is a terrifying nightmare starting from the opening logo. That's the premise of a piece of digital animation recently shared by Doctor Strange director Scott Derrickson.

The director, who was known for making more than his share of horror movies before making the jump to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, recently dropped an interesting piece of digital nightmare fuel on Twitter which recreates the iconic Pixar logo sequence, where the Luxo Jr. lamp takes the place of the letter I in the word Pixar, but puts the viewer in the point of view of that letter, and from there, the Pixar logo is a place where a vicious murder takes place, right before our eyes. Check it out.

The original animation can be found on YouTube, from Ratboi Pleb. It adds the ominous music and the apprehensive breathing that you would expect from a horror movie where a character is about to become the victim of a brutal slasher. The perspective of that letter I is certainly a bit chilling when you see it this way. The light from the lamp comes on in the darkness. It's unclear what it is, but it's ominous and seems to be unfriendly. Unfortunately, the I is locked in place and there's nothing it can do. Nothing can be done than to sit and wait for the inevitable.

Death is nothing new to Pixar. People die in those movies all the time, but it's usually in a peaceful and heartbreaking way. It turns out the "death" of the letter I is actually the most violent death in Pixar history.

I don't know about you, but I'll never be able to watch the opening Pixar logo ever again without seeing this. I will, I hope, be sitting in a movie theater in November to watch Soul and the opening titles will begin and after seeing the beautiful Disney castle the Pixar logo will appear and I'll start having flashbacks to this brutal destruction.

Of course, now having seen this, I'm wondering what a completely computer-animated horror movie would look like. It's a genre that we've never really seen. Monster House and Paranorman certainly have elements but I'm not sure you'd call either of them a horror movie. It would be out of the wheelhouse of Pixar to do something like that but I'm sure there are horror movie fans among all the people that work there. Perhaps they could ask the creator of this short to work with them on it.

The late David Bowie is an multitalented icon who has entertained audiences for decades. In addition to his prolific career as a recording artist, Bowie was also an occasional actor, with his most iconic role being Jim Henson's 1986 fantasy movie Labyrinth. It's a beloved musical film that was produced by Lucasfilm, with David Bowie starring as Jareth the Goblin King. A sequel is in development by TriStar Pictures, and it just took a major step forward by hiring some Marvel talent. Specifically, Doctor Strange director Scott Derrickson.

Labyrinth 2 was originally announced to be directed by The Girl in the Spider’s Web’s Fede Alvarez. But it was revealed in the beginning of March that Alvarez had departed this role, possibly setting back the upcoming movie's production. But a replacement has already been found in Doctor Strange's Scott Derrickson. Derrickson isn't set to return for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, which presumably opened up his schedule for this new exciting project.

This latest Labyrinth 2 update comes to us from Deadline, and is sure to be exciting for the generations of moviegoers who were brought up on Jim Henson's original movie. Fede Alvarez's departure had the potential to derail the movie's development process, so it's a relief to see that another filmmaker has stepped in to make the upcoming sequel into a reality. What's more, Scott Derrickson's work in Doctor Strange proved how he could tackle a story with high concepts, and out of this world characters.

Scott Derrickson turned down the opportunity to return to the MCU and direct Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, citing creative differences with Marvel Studios. But the sequel is still going full speed ahead, with Spider-Man director Sam Raimi returning to the superhero genre to helm Stephen Strange's second solo flick in the MCU.

While Marvel fans are bummed that Scott Derrickson won't be back in the MCU for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, it should be interesting to see what he brings to Labyrinth 2. The first movie is both bonkers and iconic, featuring a variety of creatures created by Jim Henson. There will also be a David Bowie sized hole in the upcoming sequel, so perhaps another big star will take his place in the upcoming sequel.

CinemaBlend will keep you updated on all things Labyrinth 2 and Doctor Strange as details become public. In the meantime, check out our 2020 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.

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The Marvel Cinematic Universe is an ever changing place, especially as the studio plans the next two phases of filmmaking. There are a ton of very exciting projects coming down the pipeline, including Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. This will be Benedict Cumberbatch's second solo movie, and will see Stephen Strange work with Scarlet Witch in the process. Scott Derrickson isn't returning to helm the second Doctor Strange flick, with that honor now going to Spider-Man director Sam Raimi. And Derrickson wants to make it very clear that he's ok with said turn of events.

News of Sam Raimi's involvement with Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is an exciting one for comic book fans, especially given his previous experience with the Spider-Man trilogy. Doctor Strange director Scott Derrickson previously tweeted out his support of this news, but he recently took to social media to clarify this, following rumors of the contrary. Check out Derrickson's tweet below.

Well, that certainly puts the conversation to rest. Scott Derrickson definitely has no sore feelings about Sam Raimi getting the directing gig for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. What's more, he thinks his friend and colleague would be a great choice to move Stephen Strange's story forward within the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Scott Derrickson's message of support is the second time he's tweeted about Sam Raimi's involvement in the highly anticipated Doctor Strange sequel. But it looks like he's still been hearing rumblings and rumors to the contrary. That's what inspired him to address the situation once more, hopefully for the last time. Because if he's happy, the fans should be as well.

Marvel fans can re-watch Doctor Strange's tenure in the MCU on Disney+. You can use this link for a free 7-day trial to the streaming service.

From the title alone, it seems like Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is going to be dealing with some high concepts. While the first movie introduced magic to the MCU and had some stunningly trippy visuals, Sam Raimi's sequel is clearly focusing on the multiverse. Exactly what this story will entail remains to be seen, but it will definitely involve Elizabeth Olsen's Scarlet Witch in what will likely be her biggest MCU role to date.

Sam Raimi brought the Spider-Man franchise to theaters before superhero movies and shared universes became commonplace. While there were some stumbles along the way (Spider-Man 3's dance number?), it should be interesting to see how he applies those same sensibilities to the MCU.

The filmmaker also had a ton of horror experience, which will hopefully translate to the dark themes of The Multiverse of Madness. Sam Raimi's directed Drag Me to Hell, and produced The Evil Dead, Don't Breathe, Crawl, and The Grudge. Hopefully what results is a horror inspired Marvel flick, breaking new ground for the massive franchise.

The next installment in the MCU is Black Widow on November 6th. In the meantime, check out our 2020 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.

In recent years, fans have come to expect to see a lot of the Marvel Cinematic Universe on the big screen, with two or three blockbusters coming out between January and December now being the norm... but that's not what we're going to be getting in 2020. Due to the on-going global crisis, Marvel has been forced to change their original release schedule plans, and the only title coming out this calendar year will be Cate Shortland's Black Widow.

This alteration has made a lot of movie-goers a bit upset, but one person seeing the silver lining is Doctor Strange director Scott Derrickson, who sees the major film delays in Hollywood as potentially being a good thing.

In the wake of the big Marvel news that dropped on Friday, Scott Derrickson took to Twitter to spread a message suggesting that studios pushing their plans for their upcoming slate could wind up creating serious benefits – in the process bringing up the schedule for one of the greatest science-fiction films of all time:

Anyone who regularly follows film development or is a filmmaker themselves can appreciate the message that is being sent here. So many behind-the-scenes issues in the making of a movie are created because of time restraints and the necessity for productions to hit particular deadlines so that the finished product can be sent to theaters on time. This is especially true for the blockbusters made by Marvel Studios, given the company's history announcing projects along with specific release dates. Now, with everything pushed back, filmmakers working on all of the various productions have been given the gift of extra time to further think about their individual projects and come up with ways to make them even better than they otherwise would have been.

When you think about it further, all of the delays may end up really working in the favor of the various Marvel Studios releases, especially given the shake-ups that have been happening in recent years. You may remember that Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 was originally being planned as one of the big 2020 releases, but that went out the window when the company fired James Gunn in summer 2018. And while Gunn was eventually hired back, Marvel was still forced to change their production plans for Phase 4.

Extending from this situation, both of the movies that were originally set to come out this year, Black Widow and The Eternals, were going to do so with less than a year passing between the start of their respective productions and their individual release dates – which is pretty crazy when you think about the scale of their storytelling. Now the titles have been given a little extra time to marinate in post-production, with Black Widow going from May 2020 to November 2020, and The Eternals going from November 2020 to February 2021, and hopefully the filmmakers wind up using that extra time wisely.

As for Scott Derrickson, this isn't the first time that he has commented publicly about the dangers of blockbuster schedule planning, calling studio release dates the "enemy of art," so his perspective on this matter isn't exactly surprising. And while he's not currently personally working on a Marvel movie, having left the development of Doctor Strange in The Multiverse of Madness back in January, hopefully he is using the time during the current social distancing/self-isolation time to improve any or all of the projects that he is cooking up.

Scott Derrickson’s Doctor Strange remains one of the most unusual origin-story movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Even when you consider that movies like Thor and Ant-Man dabble in Asgardian politics or quantum physics, the mystical surrealism that Derrickson needed to master in order to bring the character to life on screen. And so it makes some sense that Derrickson’s favorite scene in the movie involves The Ancient One, and not Strange, as he just admitted.

Derrickson participated in a watch party on social media (sponsored by ComicBook) and commented on the movie as fans watched along. And when Doctor Strange got to the death of The Ancient One – spoiler alert, I’m sorry – the director admitted:

It’s a deeply emotional scene. The last lesson passed down from a teacher to a student. And Tilda Swinton ends up being the ideal choice to play an ethereal, knowledgeable being like The Ancient One on screen. There’s so much about her character that we still don’t know, and it’s kind of a blessing when we saw her resurface in Avengers: Endgame thanks to time travel. I also feel like she can contribute to the Doctor Strange sequel, because magic! But you knew, in this scene, that Strange would continue to learn from The Ancient One even long after she was gone, because her wisdom was that influential.

Contained in the scene is a moment that Scott Derrickson says is pivotal to Doctor Strange working as a film so they spent an inordinate amount of time on it.

And in case you had any doubt about how wonderful Tilda Swinton was, in person, Derrickson had this to add:

Now you want to see the scene for yourself, don’t you? Us, too. We got you covered.

All of this makes us depressed that Scott Derrickson is not at the helm of next year’s Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness. His passion for the character is evident, but something happened behind the scenes, and Derrickson decided to move on. The rumors are that he will be replaced by Sam Raimi, who is a brilliant choice. But given the coronavirus delays ravaging the industry, we don’t know yet how Marvel’s production and release schedule will be affected. We will report more as we hear it.

If you ask a genre filmmaker if they have an idea for a Star Wars movie, chances are they’ll be able to think up a compelling pitch for a story set in a galaxy far, far away. Such was recently the case for Doctor Strange director Scott Derrickson, who shared his idea for a Star Wars tale set on Hoth, the snow planet where the events of The Empire Strike Back kicked off.

However, Scott Derrickson is now making it clear that he did not pitch this Star Wars movie to the folks over at Disney and Lucasfilm; it’s just something he came up with while engaged in a dinner conversation. In his words:

So the record has been set straight, and Scott Derrickson added on Twitter that he thought his idea for a Hoth-set Star Wars movie was cool, and so did everyone else at the table, hence why he tweeted about it. Derrickson then said he “should’ve known better.” In case you missed his original tweet, which has since been deleted, about what kind of Star Wars movie he’d like to make, here’s what he wrote:

As far as standalone Star Wars stories go, this sounds incredibly compelling, and if you’re gonna set the action on Hoth, then pulling from The Thing and At the Mountains of Madness is a smart movie. I’m curious if wampas would be the main threats the protagonists in this story would have to deal with, or if a more mysterious creature would be wreaking havoc.

Plus, since this would be a horror movie, Scott Derrickson would be a great fit for this Star Wars story. His previous horror directorial credits include Hellraiser: Inferno, Sinister and Deliver Us from Evil, and he also previously contributed to the Disney landscape by helming Doctor Strange for the MCU.

In any case, as cool as this sounds, it’s perfectly clear that this is not an official Star Wars project in development. Besides, considering that Disney and Lucasfilm keep Star Wars as family friendly as possible and never venture past the PG-13 realm when it comes to violence, themes, etc, the chances of an R-rated Star Wars movie ever being made are extremely slim. But one can hope, right?

Until this past January, Scott Derrickson was on board to direct Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, but he’s since stepped away from those duties, though he’ll still contribute to the sequel as an executive producer. It’s since been reported that Sam Raimi is being lined up as the sequel’s new director, but it hasn’t been confirmed yet if the job is his.

As for Star Wars, it’s unclear what the next era of the franchise’s film side will look like. Among the Star Wars cinematic projects we know are in development are a trilogy being overseen by The Last Jedi’s Rian Johnson, a movie that Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige is producing and a separate movie that will be directed by J.D. Dillard and written by Matt Owens. However, along with no plot details being revealed about any of these projects, none of them have release dates attached.

Stay tuned to CinemaBlend for more updates concerning the Star Wars franchise as they roll in. For now, keep track of the movies coming out this year with our 2020 release schedule.

As James Gunn could tell Scott Derrickson, Warner Bros. has a history of swooping up former Marvel Studios talent to direct future DC movies. Gunn is back the Marvel mix for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 after The Suicide Squad, but it sounds like Doctor Strange director Scott Derrickson doesn't have any current plans to continue directing in the MCU after leaving Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.

It's still not clear exactly what's happening with Doctor Strange 2, apart from a new script reportedly in the works and rumors about Sam Raimi as the new director. But as for Scott Derrickson, he sounds open to crossing the superhero aisle to DC.

Several fans have mentioned wanting Scott Derrickson to take his horror background and use it for a Justice League Dark movie. Just today, another fan asked Scott Derrickson if he'd want to make a Justice League Dark movie. He responded by singling out one founding member of that DC Comics league he would be interested in following:

John Constantine! Based on all of the "fuck yeah" responses in the comments, it sounds like fans would be just fine watching a Hellblazer movie from Scott Derrickson. Before Doctor Strange, Derrickson was best known for his work in the horror genre, including Hellraiser: Inferno, The Exorcism of Emily Rose, Sinister, and Deliver Us from Evil.

Scott Derrickson also directed Keanu Reeves in The Day the Earth Stood Still, and Keanu already played Constantine in the woefully underappreciated 2005 movie directed by Francis Lawrence. Keanu has talked about wanting to play the character again. I know nothing in this world is this simple, but I wouldn't say no to Keanu Reeves returning for a Constantine sequel directed by Scott Derrickson. Would anyone care to prove me wrong and make it that simple?

If Keanu Reeves isn't your Constantine of choice, there's always Matt Ryan's John Constantine in The CW's Arrow-verse. Matt Ryan also voiced Constantine in the animated Justice League Dark movie. Or another Constantine movie could start fresh with someone new -- whether famous/established or in a star-making role.

Obviously this is just dreaming at the moment, but if the word gets to the right folks at Warner Bros./DC, maybe they'll jump on the idea. After all, a lot of fans were upset when the news came out that Scott Derrickson wouldn't be making Doctor Strange in the Multitude of Madness, especially when one rumored reason was because he wanted something with a stronger focus on horror.

Scott Derrickson is still connected to Doctor Strange 2 as an executive producer, but he confirmed the mutual parting with Marvel was from "creative differences," so it's not like he'll be a major presence behind-the-scenes. He did tweet that he's working on an R-rated horror film he already wrote with Doctor Strange co-writer C. Robert Cargill. But otherwise, he seems pretty free for Constantine so ... should DC make it happen?

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It's an interesting time in Marvel Cinematic Universe, as we're currently in the interim period between phases. The next slate of movies will continue with Black Widow, and there are a ton of exciting projects coming down the pipeline. Strange will get his second solo movie in Phase Four, in the cryptically titled Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Scott Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill will not be back as director and writer respectively, and it turns out that they weren't even given the chance to write the sequel's script.

2016's Doctor Strange was written by a trio of screen writers: Prometheus' Jon Spaihts, director Scott Derrickson, and C. Robert Cargill. While Derrickson will be credited as an EP, there's a new team being put together for the upcoming sequel. In fact, it's been reported that Sam Raimi was in negotiations to helm The Multiverse of Madness, and Michael Waldron might be writing. C. Robert Cargill recently clarified how little work he'd done on that blockbuster, saying:

Well, that certainly clears things up. It looks like C. Robert Cargill didn't actually get the chance to do a draft for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. And as such, his vision won't be apart of the upcoming blockbuster's narrative at all. So we really have no idea where the movie's story will take us.

C. Robert Cargill's comments about the Doctor Strange franchise come from his personal Twitter. He took to social media to clear up some rumors about the upcoming blockbuster, and how little he actually he contributed to the still developing movie. Instead Marvel Studios will be going a new direction, and put a new spin on Stephen Strange's trippy mystical world. Cue the multiverse.

Not much is known about Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, especially now that there will be a new team behind Benedict Cumberbatch's second solo flick. It was previously reported that Scott Derrickson would be incorporating elements of horror into the movie, leaning on his film roots and experience with Sinister and The Exorcism of Emily Rose. Although now nothing is guaranteed, although Marvel Studios is still aiming for the same planned release date.

The first Doctor Strange movie greatly expanded the MCU, introducing magic and time travel to the shared universe, while featuring stunning visual effects. It looks like the franchise will continue working with high concepts with Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, which should do a deep dive into the titular multiverse. Avengers: Endgame was the first movie to deal with alternate timelines, and it seems the Master of Mystic Arts will also be utilizing that macguffin.

Marvel fans can re-watch Doctor Strange on Disney+. You can use this link for a free 7-day trial to the streaming service.

While Scott Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill have departed Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, there's still a ton of anticipation for the upcoming blockbuster, and how it will connect to the greater MCU. Elizabeth Olsen's Scarlet Witch will be joining Stephen Strange on his adventure, and the sequel will tie in events from both WandaVision and Loki.

Sam Raimi's possible involvement would mark his return to the superhero genre. Raimi was in the business of comic book adaptations long before the MCU, directing the Spider-Man trilogy. He also has horror roots look Scott Derrickson, having worked on Drag Me to Hell and The Gift. So he's a great choice to continue the Doctor Strange franchise, if the deal comes to fruition.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is currently expected to arrive in theaters on May 7, 2021. In the meantime, check out our 2020 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness has been without a director for just about a month, with the production expected to start rolling in May. That is, until Wednesday, when it was reported that the original Spider-Man trilogy’s Sam Raimi is in talks to take over Scott Derrickson’s role.

The Phase Four Marvel project lost its original director due to “creative differences,” but Scott Derrickson is still on board for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness as an executive producer. Now, he has taken to Twitter to share his support for Sam Raimi. Check it out:

It looks like there are two thumbs all the way up from Scott Derrickson. He speaks from personal experience of having worked wth Sam Raimi and called him one of “nicest” people he’s come across in Hollywood. Derrickson went on to call Raimi a “living legend” too. If this is really happening, here’s a vote of confidence from the director of 2016’s Doctor Strange.

When the news broke of Sam Raimi’s attachment to Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, many movie fans were instantly struck with the positive potential of the choice. Although Raimi hasn’t focused on directing in seven years, in his glory days, he helped not only kickstart the blockbuster superhero genre with the Spider-Man movies, but his roots lie in horror.

When Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness was first announced last summer at San Diego Comic-Con, Scott Derrickson described it as the MCU’s first horror movie. But then, its leanings into the “gothic” and “horrific” seemed to be scaling back when Kevin Feige said it’s more of a big MCU movie with “scary sequences.” Does this mean Marvel taking a step back on the whole horror concept?

Sam Raimi’s resume does create a potentially good balance for the project, since he’s had a ton of experience with Marvel movies and horror genres. The director even teased the character of Doctor Strange’s existence in his Marvel “universe” of sorts back in 2004's Spider-Man 2.

However, the last movie Sam Raimi helmed was 2013's Disney’s Oz the Great and Powerful. The movie did alright commercially, but it’s one of those blockbusters the studio never went back to and most audiences have forgotten about years later. These points aside, Scott Derrickson has come out to show support for Sam Raimi, and that could be a great step forward for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.

The Doctor Strange sequel is set to come out on May 7, 2021, during a particularly busy year for the MCU. It will be the second of four movies for the universe, following Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings in February, and before the untitled Spider-Man sequel and Thor: Love and Thunder.

What do you think of Sam Raimi directing Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness? Are you excited? Sound off in the comments and vote in our poll below!

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We probably should have seen it coming. On the heels of the news that Scott Derrickson has stepped down as director of Doctor Strange 2, fans began to scour his Twitter account to look for answers as to why. Though the director hasn’t given many details yet, fans seem to have found a few hints as to what’s behind the surprising move.

On January 9, Variety reported that Scott Derrickson would not be directing Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. The director, who helmed the wildly popular first Doctor Strange film, later confirmed via Twitter that he would be staying on as executive producer. However, he didn’t offer any concrete reasons as to why he would not be directing the sequel, aside from acknowledging “creative differences.”

Naturally, fans immediately began to try to figure out exactly what those creative differences might be. And the director’s Twitter account provided a wealth of clues, in the form of some vague (and not all that vague) musings on his frustrations as a filmmaker. On Reddit, fans shared three tweets from December 2019 that shed a bit of light on Scott Derrickson’s frame of mind. One tweet from December 16 seems to hint at his less-than-savory feelings about scheduling:

Another tweet from December 19 seems particularly prescient, given his recent decision:

And in a final tweet from December 25, Scott Derrickson praises Star Wars: The Last Jedi’s director Rian Johnson for helping him through a recent hard time:

If you’re reading between the lines (and we definitely are), it seems like Scott Derrickson was grappling with both professional and personal doubts in the lead up to his decision. Another Reddit post shone further light on the more creative side of his differences with Marvel -- namely surrounding major script changes and the addition of new characters.

from r/marvelstudios

Fans were quick to note that while some believed Scott Derrickson’s decision to leave the film was the result of a battle over its overall tone, it’s likely the Doctor Strange 2 script underwent big changes to accommodate upcoming TV series WandaVision and Loki. And Scott Derrickson may not have been on board with making huge changes to his story to accommodate new characters.

Whatever the reason, it seems that Scott Derrickson has sent shockwaves through the movie industry, if an email he received from Blumhouse’s founder is any indication. The director has yet to indicate what his next steps will be (though it’s safe to say it probably won’t be Cats 2) -- or who will step in to take his place for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, which still currently has a release date of May 7, 2021.