Blumhouse‘s horror sequel “Black Phone 2” dialed into $10.7 million across Friday and preview screenings, heading for a No. 1 opening. Meanwhile, Aziz Ansari’s comedy “Good Fortune” isn’t seeing much luck in a third place debut, as a sleepy October box office trudges towards the end of the month.
Universal has “Black Phone 2” in 3,411 North American locations for opening weekend, projecting a three-day total of $24.4 million. That’d be within pre-weekend tracking estimates and a hair ahead of the original “Black Phone,” which debuted to $23.6 million in 2022. The sequel, which sees Ethan Hawke return as a serial killer known as the Grabber, also gets a grosses boost from nabbing some premium large format auditoriums — which carry higher ticket prices — from “Tron: Ares.”
Blumhouse is looking for a box office bounce-back to end the year after fielding a disappointing 2025 slate of “Wolf Man,” “The Woman in the Yard,” “Drop” and “M3GAN 2.0” — each of which carried a modest price tag, but ultimately failed to break out in theaters. The R-rated “Black Phone 2” will easily notch the Blumhouse’s biggest opening of the calendar, but the Scott Derrickson-directed sequel is also one of its costlier productions at a $30 million production budget.
After this start, “Black Phone 2” will have to show staying power to end up a theatrical success. Critics and audiences are both positive, though slightly chillier than returns for the first entry. Audience survey firm Cinema Score polled a “B” grade among ticketbuyers, a tick down from the “B+” grade for the 2022 original. The first “Black Phone” was a sleeper hit, putting up a nearly 4x multiplier on its debut to finish with $90 million domestic. “Black Phone 2” will aim for a similarly long tail, positioned as the premier horror release through the rest of Halloween season. As for Blumhouse, the banner still has one more sequel, “Five Nights at Freddy’s 2,” coming in December from Universal.
Meanwhile, Lionsgate’s release of “Good Fortune” is headed for the lower side of projections, forecasting an opening of $5.9 million from 2,985 locations. The Aziz Ansari feature, which the comedian wrote, directed and stars in, earned just $2.4 million across Friday and preview screenings.
That’s a muted kick-off for the $30 million production, which comes despite a starry cast of Keanu Reeves, Seth Rogen, Sandra Oh and Keke Palmer, plus solid reviews and positive buzz among audiences (Cinema Score turned in a “B+” grade). It speaks to the difficulty of opening an original R-rated comedy in the current theatrical landscape, though there was a feel-good story to start the year with Sony’s “One of Them Days” ($50 million domestic total).
In second, Disney’s “Tron: Ares” earned $3 million on Friday and is expecting a sophomore outing of $11 million for a 65% drop. North American total looks to hit $54 million through its first 10 days. After a disappointing domestic debut and meagre turnout overseas, the sci-fi sequel is fading too fast to have any hope of recouping its $180 million production budget in theaters.
In a tight race for fourth, Warner Bros.’ awards favorite “One Battle After Another” is currently expected ahead after earning another $1.1 million on Friday, down 45% from its daily total last week. Paul Thomas Anderson and Leonardo DiCaprio’s very contemporary epic has shown good week-to-week holds, but the film has only earned $59 million in North America through 22 days of release. At a production budget north of $130 million, it’s estimated to lose around $100 million theatrically.
Paramount’s “Roofman” is falling to fifth place, earning $1.1 million on its second Friday. The Channing Tatum caper is looking at a $3.6 million sophomore outing, which would mark a 55% drop from its opening. Domestic gross is expected to hit $15.4 million through Sunday — a muted run, even against a slim $19 million production budget.
Also opening this weekend, Angel Studios has the World War II thriller “Truth & Treason” in 2,106 venues. The PG-13-rated drama earned $1.1 million on Friday and looks headed to a $2.8 million opening weekend to land in sixth on domestic charts. Cinema Score turned in a glowing “A” grade — par for the course for an Angel release.
Meanwhile, Amazon MGM is expanding its R-rated campus drama “After the Hunt” to 1,238 locations after opening in New York and Los Angeles last weekend. The film earned about $650,000 on Friday and is headed for seventh place. Directed by Luca Guadagnino, “After the Hunt” sports a high-profile cast of Julia Roberts, Andrew Garfield and Ayo Edebiri and Amazon gave it a presence at the industry gathering Cinema Con back in April. But negative reviews out of a Venice Film Festival premiere in August seem to have hobbled the film. Audiences don’t like it much at all, with Cinema Score turning in a “C-” grade.