On today’s episode of the “Daily Variety” podcast, Box Office segment, Variety’s Rebecca Rubin explains why “Black Phone 2” connected with moviegoers and breaks down this year’s box office record for the horror genre. Business Editor Todd Spangler provides third-quarter earnings previews for Netflix, Comcast, Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount.
“Black Phone 2” marked a box office comeback for Blumhouse, which has produced genre-rich and prolific films at modest price points. The company had some missteps earlier this year with “Wolf Man” and “M3GAN 2.0,” the latter of which was a surprise considering the synthetic villain’s first appearance in 2023’s “M3GAN” was a sleeper success. Blumhouse will also be at bat in December on “Five Nights at Freddy’s 2.”
Overall, this year has been a milestone for the genre. This genre incorporates what exhibitors most want from a theatrical film: a reason to leave the house in a dark room in fear of a crowd.
“At this point in 2025, horror movies have grossed $1.2 billion at the box office, which is a record for the genre,” Rubin said. “It broke the $1.16 billion record set in 2017. It really shows how strong this genre is theatrically, and why when people choose to go to the theater, they want to see this type of film in a communal setting.”
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