While 2025 has been a banner year for horror movies, the genre's presence during Halloween season thus far hasn't really been prime. While Ryan Coogler's Sinners and Zach Cregger's Weapons (among other titles) were blockbuster successes prior to the fall, the only big scary film in recent weeks has been Michael Chaves' The Conjuring: Last Rites (which, admittedly, broke box office records). Thankfully, Scott Derrickson's Black Phone 2 has arrived to inject some much-needed screams into the landscape, and the results from this weekend are numbers that surpass its predecessor.
The new horror sequel had competition this weekend principally from Joachim Rønning's Tron: Ares (in its second weekend) and Aziz Ansari's comedy Good Fortune, and it managed to easily outgross them – and, in fact, it made more than both of them combined. Check out the box office results in the Top 10 below and join me after for analysis.
TITLE | WEEKEND GROSS | DOMESTIC GROSS | LW | THTRS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1. Black Phone 2* | $26,500,000 | $26,500,000 | N/A | 3,411 |
2. Tron: Ares | $11,140,000 | $54,578,812 | 1 | 4,000 |
3. Good Fortune* | $6,200,000 | $6,200,000 | N/A | 2,990 |
4. One Battle After Another | $4,000,000 | $61,909,000 | 3 | 2,532 |
5. Roofman | $3,700,000 | $15,516,000 | 2 | 3,370 |
6. Truth & Treason* | $2,721,265 | $2,721,265 | N/A | 2,106 |
7. Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie | $1,650,000 | $29,931,000 | 4 | 2,535 |
8. The Conjuring: Last Rites | $1,570,000 | $175,439,000 | 5 | 1,981 |
9. After The Hunt* | $1,555,956 | $1,772,751 | N/A | 1,238 |
10. Demon Slayer -Kimetsu no Yaiba- The Movie: Infinity Castle | $1,300,000 | $131,177,000 | 7 | 1,284 |
Black Phone 2 Outgrosses The Original's Opening Weekend In Its Debut
There are a lot of indicators that one can look to in judging a sequel's success – and opening weekend ticket sales is certainly a solid one. When comparing a film to its predecessor, you obviously want to see that particular figure go up, as it is a clear indicator that the audience for your series has managed to grow and that there existed a clear appetite for more. In the last three days, that's a test that Black Phone 2 successfully passed.
There isn't a huge difference between the results, but according to The Numbers, the buzzy horror film starring Mason Thames and Ethan Hawke earned $26.5 million in its debut. That's an improvement over Scott Derrickson's The Black Phone, which made $23.6 million when it came out in the summer of 2022, and when one considers the final numbers from that title's theatrical release, it suggests that the sequel is going to end up as a success story.
Like a lot of follow-ups, Black Phone 2 had a higher budget than The Black Phone (it cost $30 million, per Variety), but that won't ultimately matter if its able to match or exceed the final gross. The 2022 movie completed its theatrical run making $161.4 million worldwide, with $90.1 million coming from the United States and Canada.
In addition to the $26.5 million the new film has made domestically, it has also earned $15.5 million from overseas, meaning it has already made $42 million globally.
It's a much needed win for Blumhouse, which is a studio that is famous for keeping budgets low but has nonetheless had a tough time with big screen releases thus far in 2025. Leigh Whannell's Wolf Man had a rough time in theaters back in January (making only $35 million globally), and the company's slate has not impressed since then, with features including Jaume Collet-Serra's The Woman In The Yard, Christopher Landon's Drop, and Gerard Johnstone's M3GAN 2.0.
Blumhouse can potentially right the ship now, and the opening weekend numbers for Black Phone 2 is a step in the right direction. The studio is also putting out Emma Tammi's Five Nights At Freddy's 2 in early December, and unlike its predecessor, the new video game movie won't see its box office numbers hampered by a simultaneous release for Peacock subscribers.
With Halloween still being just a little less than two weeks away, it will be interesting to track the performance of Black Phone 2 in the weeks ahead and determine if it gets a box office bump from the holiday.
Tron: Ares Suffers A Rough Weekend-To-Weekend Drop Following Its Tough Premiere
While Black Phone 2 was the recipient of good news from the box office this weekend, things are getting much, much worse for the legacy of Tron: Ares. As reported last Sunday, the would-be science-fiction blockbuster had a rough debut (unlike Scott Derrickson's film, the sequel did not outgross its predecessor), and that performance has now been followed by a rather devastating weekend-to-weekend fall.
With a reported budget of $180 million (according to Deadline), Tron: Ares won the box office by making just $33.2 million in its opening weekend – a figure below pre-release estimates – and it has followed that up by making just $11.1 million in the last three days. That's a plummet of 66 percent, and it further spells doom for the franchise.
To date, Tron: Ares has made $54.6 million domestically and $103 million worldwide. It seems extremely unlikely that the title will be able to match the $400 million results of Joseph Kosinski's Tron: Legacy, specifically because the December 2010 movie had limited competition in early 2011, and the 2025 feature will have to deal with a crowded field of anticipated titles set to drop in November.
Despite A Talented Cast, Good Fortune Doesn't Manage To Reinvigorate Big Screen Comedy
Along with Black Phone 2, the other big new release from a major studio this past weekend was Good Fortune... and like Tron: Ares (but on a much smaller scale), it didn't manage to set the world on fire. The comedy has a cast that includes Aziz Ansari, Keanu Reeves, and Seth Rogen, but it got a mixed reaction from critics heading into its theatrical release, and the end result is minimal business at the box office,
Good Fortune played in nearly 3,000 locations domestically this weekend, but it only managed to bring in $6.2 million. That's not a great result in any context: it's the 66th biggest opening weekend of 2025 (behind Jay Roach's The Roses from late August), and the film was made with a reported $30 million budget.
This weekend's box office results were a mixed bag to say the least... but will next weekend be better? Between the arrivals of Tatsuya Yoshihara's anime Chainsaw Man — The Movie: Reze Arc, Josh Boone's romantic drama Regretting You, and Scott Cooper's Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere, there will certainly be an interesting mix of titles for audiences to choose from. Be sure to head back here to CinemaBlend next Sunday to see how the Top 10 shakes out.
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