The Big Picture
- The Black Phone sequel will feature the return of the main cast, including Ethan Hawke's mysterious villain, The Grabber.
- The original film was a box office success, grossing over $161M worldwide and becoming a horror classic.
- The character of The Grabber is purposely kept mysterious, with minimal exposition, adding to his allure and inhumanity.
After the announcement that Scott Derrickson's The Black Phone will be given a sequel, production companies Universal Studios and Blumhouse have shared that the main cast will be returning for the second film — including Ethan Hawke's mysterious villain The Grabber. Slated for a theatrical release date for June 27, 2025, the unnamed project will be the third time Hawke and Derrickson have teamed up together, after the first The Black Phone film and the Sinister franchise. As for his relationship with Blumhouse, The Black Phone sequel marks the ninth time the actor has teamed up with the studio, as he's worked in The Purge, In a Valley of Violence, Adopt a Highway, Hamlet, Stockholm, and, of course, The Sinister films.
The Black Phone was directed by Derrickson and co-written with C. Robert Cargill. The thriller grossed over $161M worldwide at the box office and was ranked as one of the most profitable films made in 2022, according to Deadline. The success of The Black Phone turned the film into a horror classic, with merchandise surrounding the mysterious character The Grabber. What makes him so enticing is not knowing anything about the character, as his motivations are purely his own. Most horror films will spend time building up their villains so that audiences can understand why they do these horrific acts in a way to humanize the character. However,The Black Phone does the exact opposite in order to suggest that there's nothing human about The Grabber. And this is something that Hawke likes about the character, as he shared with Collider, "one of the things I really liked about the script is it doesn’t have a ton of exposition." Let's hope that same mystery surrounds the character in the sequel.
What Is ‘The Black Phone’ About?
The original film follows the story of a 13-year-old boy named Finney. He lives with his abusive father, Terrence, and his younger sister, Gwen, who has strong psychic abilities. Their town is plagued by a series of child abductions and murder, and one day the person behind the abductions, called The Grabber, comes for Finney. The young boy gets locked in a soundproof basement in one of the houses in his neighborhood. And while the police tirelessly search for him, his sister uses her abilities to try and find her missing brother, much to the anger of her father. During his time in the basement, Finney gets phone calls from other child victims on the disconnected phone in the room. As they are not really there, only Finney can speak with them, allowing the children to help him hold his ground in order to try and escape from The Grabber — which he eventually is able to do.
CloseMason Thames (For All Mankind) portrays the young Finney, Madeleine McGraw (Secrets of Sulphur Springs) as Gwen, and Jeremy Davies (Lost) plays their father, Terrence. All three are set to reprise their roles as it's clear that Hawke's character, The Grabber, is not done with the family. This comes at an exciting time for Thames, as he was recently announced to be cast in the upcoming live-action How To Train Your Dragon film as Hiccup. It's clear that the young actor is one to watch after his breakout role from the first The Black Phone. It will be interesting to see what both Thames and McGraw bring to the plate this time around.
Stay tuned to Collider for more updates on The Black Phone 2.
The Black Phone
R HorrorMysteryThriller
After being abducted by a child killer and locked in a soundproof basement, a 13-year-old boy starts receiving calls on a disconnected phone from the killer's previous victims.
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