Weekend Box Office: The Black Phone 2 is the hit Blumhouse needed

Blumhouse’s long run of flops seems to be at an end. Things haven’t been easy for the studio lately, with no legitimate hit in about two years — not since Five Nights at Freddy’s. While some of their recent films, like Speak No Evil, Imaginary, and Night Swim, still turned modest profits, they’ve also suffered a string of major flops, including Wolf Man, Drop (which was actually a great thriller), and most infamously M3GAN 2.0, which killed the franchise last summer.

Thankfully, The Black Phone 2 has opened slightly above most box office predictions (including our own) with Comscore revealing it made $26.5 million. That’s higher than the $23.6 million the original made in the summer of 2022, proving that resurrecting The Grabber was a smart move. While it’s unlikely to have the same kind of legs as the original (which grossed over $90 million domestically), this is a welcome return to form for Blumhouse — one that will likely continue once Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 opens this Christmas.

Meanwhile, Disney’s broken Tron franchise still can’t catch a break, with Tron: Ares falling a disastrous 66% to second place with $11.1 million, for a $54.5 million domestic total. It’s unlikely to top $70–75 million domestically. Lionsgate also had another major bomb with Aziz Ansari’s Good Fortune, which laid an egg at only $6.2 million despite the combined star power of Keanu Reeves and Seth Rogen. This continues a troubling trend: broad comedies just aren’t catching on like they used to.

WB’s One Battle After Another continued to pull in a decent-sized audience, adding $4 million to its $61 million total. While not a blockbuster, people are showing up, and it should play well into awards season.

One Oscar contender that did bomb is Channing Tatum’s Roofman (which we loved), co-starring Kirsten Dunst. Despite its star power, it only made $3.7 million for a $15.5 million domestic total. Star-driven awards fare is dying at the box office this fall, with The Smashing Machine being one of the year’s biggest disasters — pulled from over 2,000 theaters this weekend after earning just $11 million domestically. Further down the chart, the Julia Roberts-led After the Hunt also fared poorly, making only $1.5 million. It seems audiences are waiting to catch these films on streaming — if at all — as none have managed to tap into the zeitgeist in any meaningful way.

Angel Studios has also struggled to generate faith-based hits, with their latest, Truth & Treason, debuting to just $2.7 million in sixth place. Family fare hasn’t helped theaters much either, with Gabby’s Dollhouse earning $1.65 million for a $29 million domestic total.

Thank God for horror. The Conjuring: Last Rites remains the season’s only true, unqualified hit, pulling in another $1.5 million for a series-best $175 million total. The only other bona fide success of the season is the anime Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle, now the highest-grossing anime of all time in North America, rounding out the top 10 with $1.3 million and a $131 million domestic total.

Will Crunchyroll’s next release, Chainsaw Man, continue their streak? We’ll find out next weekend — which also sees the release of the much-anticipated Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere. Here’s hoping The Boss can help break the current streak of adult dramas flopping. The world needs Springsteen to save the box office!

What did you see this weekend? Let us know in the comments.

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