We're a little over six months away from the release of Blumhouse sequel The Black Phone 2, and finally, the company has begun revealing more details about what to expect from the next chapter in this haunting saga. Jason Blum presented clips at CinemaCon this past Wednesday from all three of his company's highly-anticipated sequels: M3GAN 2.0, The Black Phone 2, and Five Nights at Freddy's 2.
Since CinemaCon is an exclusive event, Universal hasn't publicly shared the newly released footage for the sequel yet, but several publications have generously shared written previews.
The new trailer "opens with a ringing black phone somewhere in a cold weather area. Pictures of three boys are seen. The Grabber's lair from the first film is then revealed," shares The Wrap.
CinemaCon audiences were given their first look at Ethan Hawke's return as the formidable villain and a much older Mason Thames, who reprises his role as Finney. Madeleine McGraw is also back playing his on-screen sister, Gwen. We also learned that the sequel takes place during the winter at a lakeside camp, and the titular phone is now in a booth. One memorable trailer scene shows The Grabber ice-skating toward one of his victims.
The Black Phone 2 was written and directed by Scott Derrickson, who also helmed the first film and other horror movies like Sinister and the recent Apple TV+ Original The Gorge. Derrickson co-wrote the 2022 movie with C. Robert Cargill, based on the short story by Joe Hill.
Where the first Black Phone was a middle school coming-of-age story, Derrickson previously told Bloody Disgusting that the sequel is a "high school coming-of-age movie," which makes sense since McGraw and Thames are much older now.
Additional information from CinemaCon attendees suggests that Derrickson has been inspired by The Nightmare on Elm Street and Sinister, another film of his starring Hawke.
DiscussingFilm editor Andrew J. Salazar teases that "The Grabber goes full Freddy Krueger and is seeking revenge" against siblings Finney and Gwen. Derrickson has gifted The Grabber with new powers that allow him to make his victims "hallucinate incredibly cruel deaths."
It sounds like the sequel will be much darker than its predecessor. In the 2022 movie, Finney was abducted by The Grabber and taken to his lair. There, he used a black rotary phone to communicate with the ghosts of The Grabber's previous victims, who tried to help Finney escape from their killer. At the same time, Finney's sister, Gwen, searched for him with assistance from her clairvoyant dreams.
The film became a moderate box office success, globally earning over $161.4 million. At CinemaCon, Blum teased that the sequel is just the start "of a sinister new franchise."
The Black Phone 2 will be released in theaters on October 17.