{"id":190237,"date":"2025-09-29T16:21:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-29T16:21:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/190237\/"},"modified":"2025-09-29T16:21:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-29T16:21:08","slug":"the-strangers-chapter-2-opening-weekend-suggests-this-trilogy-is-dead-in-the-water","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/190237\/","title":{"rendered":"‘The Strangers: Chapter 2’ Opening Weekend Suggests This Trilogy Is Dead in the Water"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lionsgate hiring Renny Harlin (A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master, Deep Blue Sea) to reboot The Strangers with a trilogy of new movies seemed like a bizarre decision at the time it was first announced, and the unconventional approach became even more baffling when the deeply lackluster The Strangers: Chapter 1 was released in 2024. That movie kicked the new trilogy off on a dull note, to say the least, with many fans hoping that The Strangers: Chapter 2 would course correct and answer the big question on everyone\u2019s mind: WHY?!<\/p>\n

Lionsgate and Harlin even went back to the drawing board and shot additional material for Chapter 2<\/a> based on the response to Chapter 1, lending further credence to the belief that the second movie would surely be putting the first to shame. Unfortunately, early reviews<\/a> spelled doom for Chapter 2, and the film\u2019s opening weekend reflected those rotten first reviews.<\/p>\n

The Strangers: Chapter 2 had the lowest opening weekend in the franchise\u2019s history, scaring up just $5.9 million in 2,690 theaters across the United States over the weekend.<\/p>\n

For the sake of comparison, Harlin\u2019s The Strangers: Chapter 1 opened to $11.8 million last year, exactly DOUBLE the opening weekend haul of The Strangers: Chapter 2.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the breakdown of opening weekends for every film in the franchise\u2026<\/p>\n

The Strangers (2008) \u2013 $20.9 million
\nThe Strangers: Prey at Night (2018) \u2013 $10.4 million
\nThe Strangers: Chapter 1 (2024) \u2013 $11.8 million
\nThe Strangers: Chapter 2 (2025) \u2013 $5.9 million<\/p>\n

The good news for Lionsgate is that Chapter 2 has a reported production budget of just $8.5 million. The bad news? The film\u2019s opening weekend suggests that The Strangers: Chapter 3 is destined to be a box office bomb, which begs the question of how Lionsgate should approach the release of the final film in this planned trilogy. Do you give it a pricey marketing push and bring it to theaters as originally planned? Or do you just dump the film to VOD at this point? We\u2019ll keep you posted as we learn more about Lionsgate\u2019s plan for this ill-conceived trilogy.<\/p>\n

The trilogy\u00a0was filmed simultaneously over the course of 52 days in Slovakia, but the additional shoot for the second and third installments brought the shoot to a total of around 80 days.<\/p>\n

In The Strangers: Chapter 2, \u201cThe Strangers are back \u2013 more brutal and relentless than ever. When they learn that one of their victims, Maya (Madelaine Petsch), is still alive, they return to finish what they\u2019ve started. With nowhere to run and no one to trust, Maya must survive another horrific chapter of terror as The Strangers \u2013 driven by a senseless, unceasing purpose \u2013 pursue her, more than willing to kill anyone who stands in their way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meagan writes in her 1-star review for Bloody Disgusting<\/a>, \u201cThe Strangers: Chapter 2 throttles and chokes out any lingering interest in the Strangers and this confounding trilogy.\u201d<\/p>\n

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